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Jimmy Garoppolo was talking about his thumb – which had suffered a torn ligament that he played through – and a right shoulder that has been sprained.
But he also might have been referencing the pressure that exists when your successor is waiting on the sideline.
“Now I can say the truth,” Garoppolo told Bally Sports after the 49ers’ NFC Championship loss on Sunday. “Every play, I feel it. But we made it through.”
His thumb and shoulder survived the season, but his team did not. And he likely will not survive the offseason as a 49er.
The ending was fitting. Garoppolo had played well enough to guide, if not lead, his team to the NFC Championship. And had played poorly enough that the 49ers were in a whole lot of trouble and outgunned at the most important position.
Garoppolo has been a quarterback San Francisco could win with, but rarely a quarterback San Francisco could win because of.
In what likely will be his last moments on the field for the Niners, he looked around in desperation for a receiver as the Rams’ defensive line closed around him. Not many escape from Aaron Donald’s clutches, but Garoppolo managed to shovel a pass out – which bounced off running back JaMycal Hasty’s hands and into the hands of Los Angles linebacker Travin Howard.
Garoppolo, after five roller-coaster seasons with the 49ers, likely had thrown his final pass.
“[The emotions] hit pretty hard in the locker room,” Garoppolo told reporters after the 49ers’ 20-17 loss, in which the Rams ripped off 13 fourth-quarter points. “I think these next couple of days it will really start to settle in a little bit. Emotions are high after a game, win or loss, and it’s one of those things you’ve got to be glad it happened, smile from it, and think about the good things.
“We’ll see what happens in these next couple days, weeks, whatever, but I love this team. Just the fight and the battle in this team throughout the entire year has been really impressive. I love those guys.”
In the next couple of months, the 49ers likely will part ways with the 30-year-old, who was stunningly traded from the Patriots in 2017. Head coach Kyle Shanahan believed he had found his savior, and that’s how Garoppolo looked in guiding the 49ers to five straight wins after the trade deadline deal.
Garoppolo helped them reach a Super Bowl, but will be remembered for overthrowing Emmanuel Sanders in the final minutes of that loss to the Chiefs. He could not lead them to a second Super Bowl appearance.
“I love Jimmy,” Shanahan said. “I’m not going to sit here and make a farewell statement or anything right now. That’s the last stuff on my mind. But Jimmy has battled his ass off. He battled today. He did some unbelievable things today, and I love coaching Jimmy.”
He also likely will love coaching Trey Lance, for whom the Niners traded three first-round picks. Lance loomed over Garoppolo’s shoulder all season, and just as Garoppolo once threatened Tom Brady, his heir was in the building.
“I think the competition, or whatever it is, it pushes you,” Garoppolo told Bally Sports. “When [the Lance trade] happened, I think it kind of just sent me to a different zone. And I think that paid off this year. It paid off for this team. And good things came from it.”
The 49ers would only be hit with a $1.4 million charge in dead money by getting rid of Garoppolo this offseason before he enters the final season of his $137.5 million pact. The 49ers hope he has done enough to exit through a trade rather than the team dumping him.
Quarterback-needy teams will be asking about Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, and perhaps Garoppolo can be seen as a stopgap to fill those spots with the Seahawks or Packers. The Washington Football Team and Steelers also have intriguing openings.
Or maybe Garoppolo’s next act could be fitting, too: finally replacing Tom Brady, but with the Bucs.
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