5 unavoidable takeaways from 49ers’ Week 3 loss to Broncos

49ers takeaway vs. Broncos No. 1: More evidence Jimmy Garoppolo ‘ain’t it’

The pundits who argued the Niners were actually better with Jimmy Garoppolo under center in the wake of Trey Lance’s season-ending ankle injury suffered in Week 2 might be walking back their statements a bit this week.

If anything, Week 3’s loss showed every reason why San Francisco wants to move on from Garoppolo and took the aggressive flier on Lance a year ago.

There are a number of angles to attack Garoppolo’s efforts here. He completed only 62.1 percent of his passes, tossed a horribly predictable interception late in the fourth quarter in response to Denver capturing the lead and his gaffe of stepping out of bounds in the end zone will surely make former Detroit Lions quarterback Dan Orlovsky feel much better.

However, let’s focus on some of the gaffes that won’t receive as much attention.

Garoppolo failed to target a wide-open Deebo Samuel who went uncovered by Denver’s defense in the first half, instead tossing an incompletion to fellow wideout Brandon Aiyuk. Later in the game, Garoppolo managed to hit Samuel for a 32-yard completion, but had the pass led the receiver more, Samuel would have been off for another potential touchdown.

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Instead, Samuel had to slow up for the ball and was subsequently tackled after making the catch.

On another third-down play, Garoppolo threw behind Samuel for an incompletion, too, nullifying a would-be drive extension.

Even more reasons why the 49ers admitted Garoppolo wouldn’t be their long-term solution any longer, providing evidence of why they want to move forward with Lance.

But they can’t, at least not this season.