This is the reason general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan brought Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers. They believe their quarterback can win big games.
Garoppolo will play in the biggest game of his career on Saturday when the 49ers host the Minnesota Vikings for the team's first playoff game in six years and the first at Levi's Stadium. It will also be Garoppolo's first playoff start.
That doesn't mean the quarterback hasn't been here before. He has ... as a New England Patriot. Although, he was an observer on the sideline. Still, that experience will be invaluable to the 28-year-old Garoppolo for this game, and hopefully, a couple more after it.
"I think Jimmy is aided by the fact that he's been there before, albeit not playing," Lynch said on KNBR Friday morning during the Murph and Mac show. "He's been here before in terms of the magnitude of these games, and learned the lessons of playoff time, that you have to learn at some point. And that's the reality, that every play matters a little bit more, and you don't change your approach, because these guys have been dialed in all year. But you do know the reality that everything matters a little bit more because if you lose, you go home."
For Garoppolo, despite the higher stakes, this is just another week and another opponent in front of him. As Lynch said, he's not going to change what has been so successful for him through 16 regular-season games that included 13 victories.
Garoppolo finished the regular season 329-of-476 (69.1 percent) for 3,978 yards with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. To put those numbers into perspective, his passing yards total ranks as the fourth-best in franchise history and surpassed the 3,969 pass yards Hall of Famer Steve Young threw back in 1994.
"I think he's been fantastic, all year long," Lynch said. "I really do. I think he's stepped up to every challenge. He's been at his best in the biggest moments. I can't say enough good things, nor can his teammates or coaches. Jimmy's been great for us.
"I think Jimmy knows that we are a football team, and he's very much a part of that team. We all know the importance of that position, and I think we all feel really good going into this game, and be very confident in our quarterback."
While the 49ers lost their three games by a combined 13 points, the team won 13 games in nearly every way imaginable. There have been game-winning field goals, blowouts, hot weather, storm-like conditions, and a couple of victories in some very hostile stadiums. That experience will only make Garoppolo better.
"We've won games, and I think that's the greatest testament to Jimmy that I can pay to him is he doesn't care how we win, just that we win," Lynch continued. "We've won games running the ball 35 times. We've won games lighting it up in the air, and having to get in shootouts. Jimmy is fine with any of that, and he's very skilled. Whatever style of game we need to play to win, I think he's been up to the task."
Trading for Garoppolo hit fast forward on the 49ers rebuild with which Lynch and Shanahan were tasked. The 2018 season may have seemed like a setback, due to the quarterback suffering a season-ending injury, but now, they are two wins away from a Super Bowl appearance. Much of that has to do with the presence and leadership of their franchise quarterback.
"We have a great deal of belief in Jimmy," Lynch added. "We did from the beginning, but we also felt like there was tremendous room for upside just as he played and gained experience. And this (game against the Vikings) will be another one of those."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
