Jimmy Garoppolo Ripped for Safety, 'Rookie Mistakes' in 49ers' Loss to Broncos

Jimmy Garoppolo might want to stay off social media for a while.

The San Francisco 49ers defense played more than well enough to win in Sunday's punt fest against the Denver Broncos, but the visitors still left with an 11-10 loss. The teams combined for 17 punts, and it felt like the defenses had just as good of a chance to score on a given possession as the offenses did for much of the game.

Denver's defense did score in the third quarter when Garoppolo stepped out of bounds in the back of the end zone for a safety. Dan Orlovsky's infamous play from when he was on the Detroit Lions immediately came to mind, but that was far from the end of the negativity for the 49ers quarterback.

He also threw into double coverage in the final minutes as San Francisco was driving to potentially win the game, and the result was a Jonas Griffith interception. The 49ers got one more chance thanks to their strong defense, but Jeff Wilson Jr. fumbled it away.

Naturally, Garoppolo was the target of much of the online ridicule:

It wasn't all bad for the veteran quarterback in his first start of the season.

He started the scoring with a touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk in the first quarter and seemed to be well on his way to a very Garoppolo-like performance where he got the ball in his playmakers' hands, didn't force things and let his defense win the game by avoiding major mistakes.

Yet that changed drastically in the second half with a lost fumble, the safety and the brutal interception.

Another performance like that in the Week 4 NFC West showdown with the Los Angeles Rams would mean significant trouble for a 49ers team that is already struggling at 1-2.