Golden Nuggets: Jimmy Garoppolo named the starter

It’s official now. Jimmy Garoppolo will make his 1st 49ers start this Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Kyle Shanahan let his quarterbacks know of his decision during a meeting on Tuesday. On Monday, Kyle said that he was going to make a decision midweek regarding the starter, but he only took one day to make the decision. With C.J. Beathard recovering from the hits he sustained on Sunday, the choice to go to Jimmy was clear cut.

Kyle is now going to who he hopes is his franchise quarterback, a month after trading for him. Jimmy Garoppolo will make his 1st start as the 49ers quarterback near his hometown in Illinois. The start comes at a good time. The Bears are on a 4 game losing streak. Right tackle Trent Brown, who was unable to play against the Seahawks, should be good to go on Sunday to help protect Jimmy. Garoppolo has had a month to learn Kyle’s complex offensive system and should be able to execute it now in real game situations.

Now that Jimmy is the starter, he should have 5 full games to showcase his skills. He is going into an offseason where he can be a free agent. The 49ers could franchise tag him, but these last few weeks will give the 49ers a chance to see if Jimmy is capable of being their franchise quarterback. That could help land Jimmy a long-term deal rather than the franchise tag. If Jimmy shows Kyle and GM John Lynch that he can be the quarterback for the future, it could change a lot of what the 49ers do in the offseason. They can focus on the other needs in the draft and free agency rather than looking for their quarterback.

49ers Links

He’s helping change the culture | Balancing losing and the future for the 1st time GM (Wagoner)

Hopefully Jimmy took good notes | Learning from Tom Brady (Brown)

Strong games for Reid (Williams)

Right tackle problems (Wagoner)

Working on Jimmy (Durkee)

Power rankings (ESPN)

Who will the 49ers target | Free agents (Barrows)

Taking on the challenge (Maiocco)

Favorite to start (Maiocco)

Alert! | Jimmy is getting the start (Branch)

The Jimmy G era is now on | Jimmy Garoppolo is officially started (Smith)

The team names their starter (Fann)

Jimmy is the starter (Martin)

The 1st one had quite the debut | Another 49ers quarterback makes his debut against Chicago (Sessler)

1st start on the road (Barrows)

Easy decision | Kyle lets the quarterbacks know his decision (Maiocco)

C.J.’s injury made the decision easier | The easy decision was made (Biderman)

New 49ers starting quarterback (Lott)

Can’t wait to see it | The future is now (Wagoner)

Getting a glimpse at the future | 5 games for Garoppolo (Wagoner)

Jimmy gets 1st start close to home (Branch)

Injury to C.J. made the call easy (Inman)

A lot of them this year | Another blown call in a 49ers game (Pereira)

Longest in the league | Long injury list (Lynch)

Perfect timing | Right time (Biderman)

49ers Audio

Insider podcast (Maiocco)