Hmmmm. Let’s unpack that a bit.
It’s true that Shanahan didn’t go for more points at the end of the first half. Loser mentality, which shouldn’t count against Garoppolo. They got the ball at the 20 with a minute left and the scored tied at 10. Two running plays made it a 3rd & 5 at the 20, at which point KC called a timeout. At that point, Shanahan DID trust him to throw, and it worked—JG completed a 20 yard pass to get to the 45 with 14 seconds left. Then SF called a timeout. Should have trusted his quarterback. Garoppolo then completed a 42 yard pass to the KC 13 to get into FG range. A sf penalty brought it back to the sf 34, so they took a knee to halftime. None of that reflects badly on JG.
OK, fast forward to the 4th quarter. SF led 20-10 with 6 minutes left. At that point Mahomes had no TDs and 2 picks. KC scored to make 20-17, after which SF went three & out. KC scored again, and Garoppolo got the ball back at the 15, down 4, with two minutes & change and the chance to be the hero. He quickly got SF to midfield with a 1st down. And then…he didn’t get the job done. No other way to say it. 3 incompletions and a sack, and that was all she wrote—KC got another to put it out of reach.
Point is, this is a guy that won his starts in NE, went to SF and won and brought his team to the Super Bowl. It’s no surprise Mahomes had dazzling 4th quarter stats, he’s one of the greats already. Garoppolo had to be great to beat him, and he wasn’t. He didn’t beat Mahomes in his first Super Bowl. But I don’t think that means he can't get it done in the future.