Jimmy Garoppolo improved to 17-3 as a starter and, against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, threw his first 400-plus-yard game. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback finished the day 34-of-45 for a career-high 424 yards with four touchdowns and a passer rating of 115.4.
The four scoring passes puts him in some pretty illustrious company. The only other 49ers quarterbacks in franchise history to throw for over 400 yards and at least four touchdowns in a single game were Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young. Montana did it three times (10/6/85 at ATL, 9/24/89 at PHI, 10/14/90 at ATL) while Young did it once (11/28/93 at LAR).
"Any time you're in a sentence with those two names, it's always an honor," Garoppolo told reporters after the game, "but I've got a long way to go to coach up to those two. They did some great things around here."
| Name | Date | Opp | Yds | TDs |
| Garoppolo | 11/17/19 | vs ARI | 424 | 4 |
| Young | 11/28/93 | at LAR | 462 | 4 |
| Montana | 10/14/90 | at ATL | 476 | 6 |
| Montana | 9/24/89 | at PHI | 428 | 5 |
| Montana | 10/6/85 | at ATL | 429 | 5 |
Of course, there are some throws Garoppolo admits were mistakes. In addition to the four touchdown throws, he also threw two interceptions, the last of which could have been devastating for the 49ers' chances of winning.
"Obviously, I want the two picks back," Garoppolo admitted. "They were two bad decisions, two bad throws, but at the end of the day, you've got to trust your guys and let them go make plays."
Luckily for Garoppolo and 49ers fans everywhere, the defense stepped up and got the football back for the offense. The quarterback then engineered an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive, capped off by a 25-yard touchdown throw to running back Jeff Wilson to put San Francisco on top 30-26.
The scoring toss and catch was Garoppolo's second game-winning touchdown pass this season (vs. PIT on 9/22/19)
Garoppolo was so excited to throw the score that he celebrated by hugging his fullback, Kyle Juszczyk. Of course, it had nothing to do with what the valuable blocker did on that particular play.
"I would have hugged anyone who was next to me, man," Garoppolo said. "The stadium was on fire today. The fans were going nuts. Just, the energy in that stadium, it's contagious."