Jimmy Garoppolo was wholly atrocious in 49ers loss to Titans

Jimmy Garoppolo had one of his worst performances of the season in the 49ers’ mistake-riddled prime-time Week 16 loss to the Titans.

The San Francisco 49ers fell to 8-7 after dropping their Week 16 Thursday Night Football contest to the Tennessee Titans in no small part because of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo‘s abysmal play.

In fact, besides the Niners’ opening drive, there was very little Garoppolo did to defeat the Titans. San Francisco’s defense stonewalled the Titans offense almost entirely during the first half, providing plenty of offensive opportunities to take control of the game.

Instead, Jimmy G continued to make errant throw after errant throw, leading to two interceptions, the second of which led to points for the Tennessee. On one errant throw, Garoppolo overthrew a wide-open Kyle Juszczyk running down the ride sideline, which would have resulted in an easy touchdown for the 49ers.

Seven missed points right there.

Jimmy Garoppolo wasted a masterful effort from Deebo Samuel

Garoppolo’s first interception on an ill-advised attempt in the end zone for tight end George Kittle wiped out another seven-point opportunity, but at least the Titans subsequently punted on their possession thereafter.

However, Garoppolo’s second pick allowed Tennessee to get back into the game, tying it all up at 10-10 right after halftime. The 49ers could and should have been going into halftime with a 17-3 lead, and it could have been 24-3, all other things being equal, if he hit Juszczyk.

Instead, Garoppolo ended the game 26-of-35 passing for 322 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions, and two sacks. While 322 passing yards look impressive, most of those yards were earned by the rough and spirited YAC Bros — Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk, 56 of them coming off Samuel’s near touchdown scamper late in the fourth quarter.

Garoppolo compounded his poor play by consistently holding the ball too long, leading to costly sacks that derailed drives. The 49ers were only in this game because the defense, for the most part, did its job before tiring out in the second half.

Read More: Jimmy Garoppolo costs Niners a vital chance in Week 16 vs. Titans

Those YAC Bros, too. In particular, Samuel dominated with another monster performance ending the game with 159 receiving yards on nine receptions netting a 17.7 yards-per-reception average and 32 rushing yards off of five rushing attempts recording 6.4 yards-per-rush.

Garoppolo owes Samuel an apology after playing like that.

The 49ers faced a Titans team with a drastically depleted offensive line and without its best player in running back Derrick Henry.

In other words, advantage San Francisco

Still, the Niners were competitive to the end. Were it not for Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill scrambling to get his team in great field-goal position, this game could have gone into overtime.

To be clear, though, the 49ers lost because of Garoppolo and not because the Titans beat them.

Although they deserve every bit of credit for capitalizing on the opportunities gifted to them, almost all of which were on Jimmy G.