Jimmy Garoppolo has been with the San Francisco 49ers for over four weeks. On Sunday, he will get his first start since being traded from the New England Patriots to the 49ers on October 30. The quarterback played during the last 67 seconds of this past Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks and, for three plays, showed flashes of things to come and rejuvenated the hopes of the fanbase.
Garoppolo has been taking a crash course learning Kyle Shanahan's offense and the verbiage associated with it. He has been working with the coaching staff and his teammates to prepare for his third career start and his first since Week 2 of the 2016 season.
Garoppolo's opportunity presented itself because of an injury to rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard, who sustained a knee contusion and hip strain against Seattle. How prepared can fans expect Garoppolo to be when the 49ers kick off against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday?
"When you go into the week with him as the starter, knowing that the playbook is this week, it's not like the big inventory of our training camp and OTAs' system," Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday. "It's, 'What's our game plan to beat Chicago?' We put that in together all Monday night and on Tuesday with the idea that we knew we were going to go with Jimmy. So when we did that, we put in a game plan that we thought he could do.
"By no means has he repped it all. That's what starts today. We just did it in a walkthrough. But this game plan is for Jimmy, and he'll work at it all week, and whatever he doesn't feel comfortable with, and he doesn't get down in these three practices, then we'll take it out. Whatever we go in with Sunday, he'll know 100-percent of it."
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Unlike Beathard, Garoppolo has been wearing a wristband during practices and on the sideline during games. Had he needed to enter a game, as he did on Sunday, Shanahan's method of calling plays changes so that Garoppolo can merely refer to the numbers on the wristband to relay the information to the rest of the offense.
Will Garoppolo need that wristband on Sunday against the Bears? That depends on Garoppolo and his comfort level going into the game.
"We'll see how the week goes," Shanahan said. "That really depends on how he feels. When you have an offseason together, there's stuff I'll challenge him with, and it won't be too hard because you have time and it will just happen naturally. I think the last thing you want to do as a coach is challenge a guy to do something that -- you challenge someone to do something, they'll get it done but then at the expense of what else? I want him to feel real comfortable going into this game so we'll see how he feels at the end of the week."
"I think it's more of a feel thing," Garoppolo said when asked about the wristband. "I don't think there's really one thing or another that will tell us, 'Hey, you're good on the wristband.' Me and Kyle have been talking about it. We've got a nice game plan right now for the week of practice and how we're going to go about it, and we'll see what happens at the end of the week."
How prepared does Garoppolo feel for Sunday's start?
"I think we're working in the right direction," he said. "This week, getting the first team reps and all that stuff will definitely help, but it's a process."
As the 49ers' backup quarterback over the last few weeks, Garoppolo hasn't had much time lining up with the starting offense during practices. That will change starting on Wednesday.
"I think this week will really help getting the live reps with them against the scout team defense and even the competition periods," Garoppolo said. "Getting that timing down with those guys is crucial between quarterback and really any skill player. I mean, tight ends, receivers, running backs, all those guys. They all have specific things that they do well, and we're trying to showcase those."