SF 49ers: 3 things Jimmy Garoppolo can learn from Tom Brady

No. 2: Jimmy G must develop that killer instinct

Late in Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers still up big, Tom Brady wasn’t hesitating to use his arm to go for the proverbial “kill shot.” Brady’s third touchdown of the game, following the Bucs defense doing everything it needed against Patrick Mahomes, was the dagger.

And even afterward, Brady was not going to let the Chiefs do what they did to the SF 49ers the year before. To use NBA terminology, it was almost the “Mamba Mentality” of the late great, Kobe Bryant, on how he’d take over games late when the outcome was still in doubt.

Brady, too, did this against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game despite tossing three interceptions. Those kill shots were still there, and the Packers were sent packing as a result.

Jimmy Garoppolo has flashed hints of being able to do this. Those memorable 3rd-and-16 completions on the same drive in Week 16 against the LA Rams back in 2019 come to mind. But the Niners will need Jimmy G to develop that playoff-atmosphere kill-shot mentality.

As fans may painfully recall, Garoppolo and the San Francisco offense had the opportunity to engineer killer-instinct moments in the latter half of Super Bowl LIV just over a year ago, only to watch as those moments dissipated and the Chiefs staged their comeback.