The San Francisco 49ers had not won a game when quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo arrived via a mid-season trade in 2017. It was head coach Kyle Shanahan's and general manager John Lynch's first season together, and things did not start as they had hoped.
Upon his arrival, Garoppolo got to work studying his new team's playbook. It wasn't the offseason-long course that his new teammates got to enjoy. It was like studying an entire class' material the night before the final without having sat through the course.
When Garoppolo finally got the opportunity to start about a month later, he rattled off five consecutive wins.
An ACL injury shortened the quarterback's 2018 campaign, but he started all 16 regular-season games this season and now has a playoff victory on his resume. Garoppolo is one win away from the Super Bowl, yet there are still those who doubt his ability.
"You talk about what do you look for in a quarterback, and all the qualities," Lynch told Howard Balzer on Friday during an interview on 590 KFNS in St. Louis. "But I think the first quality, last I checked, is do they win? Are they winners? And he's 21-5 (22-5 if you count this past weekend's playoff victory).
"A lot of people say that's about the teams he's been on. Well, sure, absolutely, but that's such a critical position.
"The other thing I would tell you, he made our organization instantly better when he got here. Now, we were patient. I give Kyle a ton of credit. We didn't put him in there right away. We bought as much time as we felt that we needed where he was set up for success that Year One.
"He came in, and to me, the best players, the best leaders, what do they do? They make everyone around them better, and that's the effect Jimmy's had on this place."
Lynch went on to say that the ACL injury was a setback in Garoppolo's progress, but the quarterback has bounced back better than expected. The general manager credits the coaching staff for finding ways for Garoppolo to continue to grow even after he was sidelined with the injury.
Added Lynch: "I know his teammates believe in him, and I think that's the most important thing. We certainly, as an organization, believe in him."
You can listen to the entire interview with Lynch below. The conversation begins at about the 8:50 mark.
