Brian Baldinger on 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo: ‘He’s just not good enough’

Ask fans of the San Francisco 49ers to evaluate current starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and you will probably get an array of responses that lean heavy to the side of disdain. For the organization that once replaced one Hall of Fame quarterback with another, modern-day 49ers fans have had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with their team's quarterbacks.

Even former Pro Bowl quarterback, Jeff Garcia, felt the fans' wrath at times. But since then, it's been a steady stream of underachieving signal callers. So Garoppolo isn't the first San Francisco quarterback that fans have wanted to chase out of town with pitch forks and torches (cue the angry mob music). But fans hope, and so do the 49ers coaches and front office, that he will be the last.

Right now the media, both local and national, appear to have seen enough of Garoppolo, too. NFL analyst, Brian Baldinger, was a guest on 95.7 The Game's The Morning Roast show on Tuesday. He was asked how he presently views Garoppolo as an NFL quarterback.

"Well, he's just not good enough," Baldinger said. "He's just not good enough. He's not accurate enough. There's only five [quarterbacks]—I don't think there's 10 of them in this league—where you can just count on them every single week. There's just not that many. And so, you're asking Jimmy to be stick accurate, almost every throw, and especially on third down to stay on the field. And he's just not that guy right now."

Baldinger, who has been generous in his praise of Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers overall, has recently pulled back in talking up the 49ers. And for good reason. The team has fallen to 2-4, and has lost four in a row.

Here he questions this second quarter play on 3rd and five. Whether he was questioning the play call, or the decision on where to throw the ball, you can decide for yourself.

Regardless, Baldinger isn't holding back when it comes to the quarterback. He continued, "Now, the rain could have had something to do with it. The ball came out kind of funky a few times. That happens, but throwing a wet ball is part of playing the position...I've never seen a guy throw a ball in bad weather better than [Tom] Brady, but some guys just do it better.

"But that's where [Garoppolo]'s at right now. He's just missing [on passes]. And you can still complete a pass. It doesn't mean it's a great throw. I mean, guys can make great catches and all that stuff, but you hit Deebo [Samuel] on the dead run, he's just going to smoke people. But you've got to do that."

Garoppolo is not having his best season so far. He's had some good moments, like marching the team down to score (what should have been) the winning touchdown against the Packers. But he has had more bad moments than good ones. His performance Sunday night, though, may have been the worst of his professional career.

He turned the ball over three times (two interceptions and one fumble). And he might have thrown even more picks, had it not been a rainy night, with defensive backs and linebackers struggling to catch to the ball. Garoppolo was also sacked twice.

Interestingly, fans and media alike have been criticizing Shanahan for not getting the ball to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk. But in this breakdown, Baldinger shows that Shanahan schemed Aiyuk open, and the receiver ran the correct route to get open. Garoppolo just wasn't able to get it to him.

Next up for the reeling 49ers: A trip to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears.

You can listen to the entire conversation with Baldinger below.

• Marc Adams
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