There will be countless columns, thinkpieces and breakdowns of Jimmy Garoppolo's time with the 49ers. The lows feel more remembered right now but the highs will see their time too. Whether you're pro-Garoppolo, anti-Garoppolo or somewhere in the middle, one thing can't be debated: The quarterback completed his own mantra in his five seasons with San Francisco.
"Really since I've gotten here, it's all been about I want to leave the place better than when I got here," Garoppolo said Tuesday to reporters. "It's always something that I've tried to live through and whatever it is, growing up, school, football, other sports, I always try to do that with every place I went.
"It's one of those things you look back on it and just how far this team, this organization has come in four years. It's pretty wild. But you know, I wouldn't change anything for the world. I think everything happens for a reason and got to enjoy the moment while you have it."
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Garoppolo was traded from the New England Patriots to the 49ers on Halloween day in 2017. It was the perfect metaphor with the next few seasons being a trick-or-treat bag of QB play. Two days later, he met the Bay Area media for the first time on his 26th birthday.
At the time of the trade, the 49ers were 0-8 to start off Kyle Shanahan's career as a head coach and John Lynch's as a general manager. Then, they made their first big move by acquiring who was thought to be Tom Brady's predecessor for a 2018 second-round draft pick. The 49ers were being led -- if you want to call it that -- by quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard.
Yuck.
The new savior made his San Francisco debut in Week 12 with just 1:07 left in a 24-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He gained 4 yards on the ground in his first play as a 49er, completed an 8-yard pass to Aldrick Robinson and then hit Louis Murphy for a 10-yard touchdown pass on his third play with only two seconds left.
San Francisco 49ers
With two passes, the light at the end of the tunnel was there for the 49ers and The Faithful. They hadn't made the playoffs since the 2013 season and in that playoff drought they were 15-43 before Garoppolo started Week 13 against his hometown Chicago Bears. Then came the winning.
Garoppolo made his mark and marched the 49ers to five straight wins to end the 2017 season. He averaged 308.4 passing yards per game and completed 67.05 percent of his pass attempts in those five games. Despite throwing only six touchdowns and being intercepted five times in that span, Shanahan, Lynch and Co. were convinced they had their franchise quarterback.
His contract said so, too.
The 49ers gave Garoppolo a five-year, $137.5 million contract on Feb. 8, 2018. They had their quarterback of the future, or so they thought. And all they needed was five starts to be conviced of that.
In just the third game of the 2018 season, Garoppolo fought for an extra yard and sustained a season-ending torn ACL against the Kansas City Chiefs. The 49ers went 4-12 and it was the start of a long list of injuries for Jimmy G.
The next year, a healthy Garoppolo had an historic season for the 49ers and was just six minutes away from beating those Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. He was held to only six games -- and left two early -- the season after losing the Super Bowl and the 49ers went 6-10. Garoppolo even missed two games this season to two different injuries and his right arm was hanging by a thread as he walked off the field at SoFi Stadium in the NFC Championship Game.
Garoppolo went 31-14 as the 49ers' starting quarterback in the regular season. He also missed 25 possible starts in the regular season to injuries. The now veteran QB went 4-2 in the playoffs as the 49ers' starter, but threw four touchdowns to six interceptions while averaging just 149 passing yards per game.
Putting Garoppolo under center resulted in two trips to the conference championship and one to the Super Bowl. The 49ers also saw double-digit leads disappear in both the Super Bowl and the NFC championship this past week with him as their signal-caller. Trick or treat, folks.
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When Garoppolo arrived, the 49ers were a mess. They were churning coaches and quarterbacks and collecting losses along the way. Did he live up to his massive contract? No. Was he the franchise QB the 49ers envisioned? Not exactly. But did he leave the building better than it was when he arrived?
There's no damn doubt about that.