Golden Nuggets: Good start to Jimmy’s 49ers career

Tuesday, December 5th, 2017 edition of the Golden Nuggets, a daily compilation of San Francisco 49ers links from the Internet

By Billy Kerr@bkerr725 Dec 5, 2017, 2:00am PST

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NFL: San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears

The 1st start for Jimmy Garoppolo was a success. Jimmy led to the 49ers to their 2nd win of the season with a 15-14 win against the Chicago Bears. He led 5 drives that ended in 5 Robbie Gould field goals, which was extra special for Robbie since he was making his return to Chicago since being cut in 2016. He is the Bears’ all-time leader in points and field goals made. He won the game with a 24 yard field goal after Garoppolo orchestrated a 86 yard drive to set up Gould for the short kick.

Garoppolo was very impressive in the start. He finished 26 of 37 with 293 yards and 1 interception, though the interception was more on Louis Murphy since the ball was simply ripped out of Murphy’s hands while going to ground. Jimmy showed composure and accuracy in the pocket. He had a 100% completion rate when targeting Marquise Goodwin and Trent Taylor. Goodwin led the team with 99 yards on 8 targets and Taylor had 92 yards on 6 targets. Jimmy was consistently able to place the ball in spots where his receivers were able to make plays after the catch.

Jimmy had a great debut, but there was one area that he and the offense struggled. He led the offense on 5 drives into the Bears’ red-zone, but was unable to punch it in for a touchdown. Penalties killed most of those red-zone chances. More time working in the offense should also help Jimmy and the offense convert those opportunities. They will get another chance to push those in next Sunday on the road at Houston.

49ers Links

Much better grades | Report card (Inman)

Great homecoming (Wagoner)

Impressed | Kyle Shanahan on Jimmy’s debut (Alper)

Snap counts (Maiocco)

Jimmy and Joe (McGuinness)

Good for Robbie | Game-winning kick from Gould (Dickerson)

Completed over 50% | What an improvement on 3rd down (Wagoner)

The offense kept the defense fresh | Light work day for the defense (Barrows)

Protecting Jimmy (Williams)

Bears postgame quotes (Martin)

Eye-opening accuracy | Garoppolo’s accuracy (Lynch)