With Late TD, Jimmy Garoppolo Shows He Can't Sit for Long

Jimmy Garoppolo has taken just three snaps as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, but all three of those plays had positive outcomes.

In fact, Garoppolo accomplished more for the 49ers offense in 67 seconds Sunday than starter C.J. Beathard did the rest of the day.

Upon entering a one-sided loss to the Seattle Seahawks with just over a minute remaining, Garoppolo scrambled for four yards on 3rd-and-5, completed an eight-yard throw to Aldrick Robinson to convert a 4th-and-5 and then threw a perfect touchdown strike to Louis Murphy as he rolled away from the rush on the final play of the game.

Because the 49ers were outscored 24-6 with Beathard at the helm for the first 58 minutes and 53 seconds of Sunday's contest against the Seahawks, Garoppolo's touchdown didn't affect the outcome. But it did confirm that it's time for him to make his first start with the team.

It's surprising it hasn't happened yet. The 49ers acquired the promising 2014 second-round pick from the New England Patriots four weeks ago. When he first joined the team, there was a natural inclination to circle November 26 on the calendar, since it was a home game against a division rival after a bye week. But 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan decided after Beathard performed well in a Week 10 victory over the New York Giants that Garoppolo could benefit from a little more time in the oven. 

"Jimmy gets more and more ready each week," Shanahan told reporters this week. "Is Jimmy going to be the best he can? To me, that's impossible. He just hasn't been here long enough, and I think he'll get an opportunity to be better each week. I don't think we're going to see Jimmy's best football, to be fair to him, until next year because that's what guys need."

But Garoppolo's late-game cameo against the Seahawks doesn't mean Shanahan will give him the start over Beathard when the 49ers take on the Chicago Bears on the road next Sunday. 

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

After all, the fourth-year 26-year-old only saw that action against Seattle because Beathard suffered an injury after being abused all afternoon by the Seahawks pass rush. The rookie third-round pick wasn't replaced because he was ineffective, even if ineffective was what he was. 

If Beathard is healthy enough to start in Week 13, Shanahan and Co. could decide to continue to throw a less valuable quarterback to the wolves for at least another week. 

It was already obvious prior to Week 12 that Garoppolo is a more talented quarterback with a higher ceiling, and I don't think Shanahan or general manager John Lynch were under another impression. Instead, this delay occurred because the 49ers aren't in contention and would prefer to see Garoppolo without training wheels. 

The delay is also an indication the 49ers are satisfied with what they saw from Garoppolo in New England and that they didn't trade a second-round pick merely to give a series of formal auditions to an impending free-agent quarterback. They're probably pretty damn sure they're keeping Garoppolo beyond this season, which is why it didn't hurt to give him some time to grasp a new system. 

But enough is enough. Beathard ranks 34th among 35 qualified quarterbacks with a passer rating of 69.2. He almost never gets the ball out quickly enough, he handles pressure poorly, and the 49ers offense has failed to score more than 13 points in four of his five starts. 

Meanwhile, on just about half as many passes, Garoppolo now has a career passer rating of 110.1. He has six touchdown passes and has yet to throw an interception in his professional career, and he's been sacked only eight times on 104 dropbacks.

In a perfect world, Garoppolo would have more support in that offense before making his debut. But you can never fully incubate your quarterback, and the 49ers are welcome to ease him in with a conservative, protective game plan since they aren't going anywhere as a team this season anyway. 

And in a perfect world, Garoppolo would have spent six months learning the offense before debuting. But pro quarterbacks are supposed to be capable of running at least a watered-down version of an offense without much preparation time. Just look at how quickly Garoppolo's former teammate Jacoby Brissett was able to experience moderate success as a starter after the Patriots traded him to the Indianapolis Colts just before the start of the regular season. 

The pro football world is and will never be perfect. The circumstances might never be completely ideal. It's time for the 49ers to pull the trigger.

They owe it to their curious, exhausted and deflated fans, who know that there's little hope with Beathard under center every week. They owe it to Garoppolo, who after the trade finally looked as though he'd get a chance to prove his worth outside of Tom Brady's shadow. And they owe it to themselves, because it couldn't hurt to get as thorough a look as possible at Garoppolo before having to make a gigantic decision in the new year regarding his and their future. 

Just in case it wasn't already obvious, those three plays Sunday were enough to clinch it. It's time to take the leash off of Jimmy Garoppolo. Starting now. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.