I think Jimmy Garoppolo will be just fine on Sunday. Not that he’s anywhere close to Patrick Mahomes, but he’ll be capable of making more than enough big throws in this game if needed.
Garoppolo has put up modest numbers recently, passing for only 131 and 77 yards in his playoff games. But those limited days have been dictated by how the 49ers have run the ball. The Vikings and Packers weren’t able to stop them up front, so there was no pressing need to put the ball in the air.
Earlier this year, we saw Garoppolo throw 4 TD passes three times. He passed for 317 and 424 yards in his two games against Arizona, and he went for 349 yards in a shootout win at the Superdome. If Kansas City has much success slowing down San Francisco’s running game, then I imagine we’ll see Garoppolo hit on plenty of big completions to George Kittle, Emmanuel Sanders and Deebo Samuel.
The 49ers this year have run for more than 130 yards in nine games. Garoppolo has averaged only 200 passing yards in those games.
| GAROPPOLO (more than 130 rushing yards) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int |
| at Cin. | W 41-17 | 17 | 25 | 68% | 296 | 3 | 1 |
| Pitt. | W 24-20 | 23 | 32 | 72% | 277 | 1 | 2 |
| Cle. | W 31-3 | 20 | 29 | 69% | 181 | 2 | 0 |
| at Was. | W 9-0 | 12 | 21 | 57% | 151 | 0 | 1 |
| Car. | W 51-13 | 18 | 22 | 82% | 175 | 2 | 1 |
| at Bal. | L 17-20 | 15 | 21 | 71% | 165 | 1 | 0 |
| at N.O. | W 48-46 | 26 | 35 | 74% | 349 | 4 | 1 |
| Min. | W 27-10 | 11 | 19 | 58% | 131 | 1 | 1 |
| G.B. | W 37-20 | 6 | 8 | 75% | 77 | 0 | 0 |
| Avg | 8-1 | 16.4 | 23.6 | 70% | 200 | 1.56 | .78 |
San Francisco has run for fewer than 130 yards in their nine other games. In those weeks, Garoppolo has had more opportunities to throw, averaging 265 passing yards.
| GAROPPOLO (fewer than 130 rushing yards) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Com | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int |
| at T.B. | W 31-17 | 18 | 27 | 67% | 166 | 1 | 1 |
| at LAR | W 20-7 | 24 | 33 | 73% | 243 | 0 | 1 |
| at Ari. | W 28-25 | 28 | 37 | 76% | 317 | 4 | 0 |
| Sea. | L 24-27 | 24 | 46 | 52% | 248 | 1 | 1 |
| Ari. | W 36-26 | 34 | 45 | 76% | 424 | 4 | 2 |
| G.B. | W 37-8 | 14 | 20 | 70% | 253 | 2 | 0 |
| Atl. | L 22-29 | 22 | 34 | 65% | 200 | 1 | 0 |
| LAR | W 34-31 | 16 | 27 | 59% | 248 | 1 | 2 |
| at Sea. | W 26-21 | 18 | 22 | 82% | 285 | 0 | 0 |
| Avg | 7-2 | 22.0 | 32.3 | 68% | 265 | 1.56 | .78 |
—Ian Allan