49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has started only 26 games in his NFL career. In his 10th start against the Minnesota defense in Week 1 last year, he threw three interceptions, one pick-six, and finished the game with 45.1 passer rating. There’s little doubt that the Vikings are looking over that gameplan for Saturday’s Divisional Playoff game.

Of course, Jimmy Garoppolo is a better quarterback now than he was in September of 2018, although the accolades that surrounded him then towered in hyperbole over what is uttered about him as he enters his first playoff game as an NFL starter.

Few care to remember how the former New England Patriot backup took over a hapless 49er team in late 2017 and led them to five consecutive wins to end the year. For that, he was duly crowned as the next great NFL QB.

Wait–not just great, as The Sporting News called him, “the next Tom Brady.”

Thankfully, after a 1-2 start to the season and then an ACL injury that ended his year, the smoke began to disperse around Jimmy G. This guy was good, but during this long rehab, he still had a lot to learn.

The Previous Lesson In Zimmer

In that Week 1 of 2018 (another game that the NFL punditry was lovingly devoted to the ascendant opposition of the Vikings), Mike Zimmer baffled Jimmy G with a myriad of fronts that lead directly to errant throws, sacks, and turnovers in the air from the former QB from Eastern Illinois.

Though the Vikings were hardly a well-oiled machine in the first week of the season, it was Zimmer’s game design that kept the San Francisco offense from using much in their offense besides a strong misdirection game involving their remarkable rookie tight end George Kittle.

Jimmy G, hardly versed in Zimmer’s shark-like blitz scheme and elaborate coverage disguises, was, by the end of the first half, a frustrated signal-caller who was clearly being roughed about.

Trailing 10-3 in the third quarter, Garoppolo, under pressure on a third-and-long from a combination blitz, delivered the ball to Vikings rookie corner Mike Hughes for an interception return touchdown that put the 49ers behind the eight ball for the game.

Battling back as they could, Garoppolo clearly found himself a little quick to throw after being hit and hurried so much throughout the game. His early fourth-quarter interception to Xavier Rhodes was his second of the contest; the 49ers third turnover on the day, stopping another drive by Jimmy G and the Niners before it got started.

Number One On Three

Beginning the year where they would once again lead the NFL in preventing third-down conversions, Zimmer’s defense then took out some of the family jewels and waved them about. A safety blitz sack, by none other than Harry Smith, shut another drive down at midfield.

By this time, those watching the game saw a frustrated young San Francisco quarterback with a gunshy hitch in his dropback.

Jimmy G was ready to pack it in.

Seeing ghosts, Garoppolo ended the affair with his last pick, an awful ball back to number 22, his third interception and the 49ers fourth TO of the afternoon.

The game ended moments later, but it’s interesting to consider whether Jimmy G still has the game–and the beating he took–on his mind.

The Value Of Experience

Obviously, the San Francisco offense has made great strides since their mess of a 4-12 season last year, but they’ve done so much more on the strength of an uncommon run game and an athletic young defense than they have with great talent at the quarterback position.

Jimmy Garoppolo has also come a long way. He’s escaped the absurd amplification of his potential talent, he’s rehabbed a devastating injury, and he’s lead his team to the #1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

But he’s now got a new challenge, defeating an enemy that knows he and his coach, the expanse and limits of their personnel, and the shallows of their vulnerabilities.

If Jimmy G and the 49ers’ offense have brought their game to a new level in 2019, they can at least be sure that they’ll be facing a Viking defense that seemed to find a rather fantastic rise themselves–at the top of 2020–in the New Orleans Superdome.