Jimmy Garoppolo’s streak as a starter remains intact after the former Patriots quarterback came away with a last-minute win over the Bears on Sunday in Chicago.
Garoppolo, whose parents were on hand as he got his first start with his new team, won his third NFL start, improving to 1-0 with the 49ers while building on the 2-0 record from his previous two starts in New England.
He finished the game 26-of-37 for 293 yards on the afternoon, engineering scoring drives on five of their eight possessions, all of which were field goals. It wasn’t all perfect as Garoppolo threw his first career interception, ending a streak of 103 straight passes without being picked off.
However, the turnover was hardly his fault. After Garoppolo made a great throw to Louis Murphy on a 3rd-and-9, Kyle Fuller ripped the ball away and was awarded the interception. The Bears took advantage, marching 54 yards on 8 plays before scoring their only offensive touchdown of the afternoon.
Chicago’s other score came in the second quarter, after Tarik Cohen returned a 49ers punt 61-yards for a touchdown, which at the time put Chicago up 14-6 with 5:49 left to play in the half.
But Garoppolo lead the 49ers on an 11 play drive that resulted in a field goal to close out the half to pull within 14-9, and then put together a 16 play drive on their first possession of the third quarter, which resulted in another field goal to cut the lead to 14-12.
Looking at the numbers, with Garoppolo at the helm, the 49ers controlled the clock and held the ball for nearly 39-minutes, with the team showing a lot more fire with their new quarterback under center. Garoppolo rewarded their faith, leading the team on a final 14 play drive to close out the game and set up their game-winning field goal that put them ahead at 15-14 with 0:08 left to play.
The team here in New England was apparently keeping an eye on their quarterback, with Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald reporting that the players and coaches were excited to learn about the outcome of Garoppolo’s first start.
First thing I heard in the Patriots’ locker room: Players and coaches were excited about Garoppolo’s first win with the 49ers.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) December 3, 2017
Garoppolo and the 2-10 49ers will now head to Houston next Sunday to take on the Texans.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
