With quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the 2017 San Francisco 49ers led the NFL in scoring percentage, but were unable to convert enough red-zone opportunities into touchdowns. Today, we break down the Niners’ red-zone attempts against the Chicago Bears in Week 13.
After a series of lackluster performances during the beginning of the 2017 NFL season, the San Francisco 49ers’ offense was potent with new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, leading the NFL in yards-per-drive, points-per-drive and scoring percentage — a drastic turnaround we have termed “The Jimmy Garoppolo Effect.” Still, the Niners’ offense could have been even better in 2017, and too often settled for field goals over touchdowns when they reached the red zone. Over the next few weeks, we will break down each of Garoppolo’s starts, and analyze each of the 49ers’ scoring opportunities.
Week 13 of the 2017 NFL season was Garoppolo’s first start after his trade to the 49ers from the New England Patriots. The Niners traveled to Chicago to play the 3-8 Bears, who were struggling on offense, but had a formidable defense ranked in the top half of the league.
Opportunity 1
Garoppolo takes the 49ers quickly down the field on their opening drive, and has a 1st-and-10 from the Chicago 19-yard line. The 49ers have 21 personnel in I-Formation before motioning fullback Kyle Juszczyk to the line. The Niners run a pitch to the field side, but tight end Logan Paulsen whiffs on his block attempt of defensive back Eddie Jackson, and center Daniel Kilgore can’t reach linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski before he knifes into the backfield. Running back Carlos Hyde has a short opportunity to cut back, but misses it due to bobbling the pitch, and is caught in the backfield for a 7-yard loss:
On 2nd-and-17, Garoppolo scrambles for eight yards, and draws an unnecessary roughness penalty that sets the Niners up with a 1st-and-goal at the Chicago 9-yard line. On first down, the 49ers run a horizontal stretch play; Garoppolo attempts a pass to tight end Garrett Celek, but the pass is defended well by cornerback Kyle Fuller, who dives in to knock away the pass attempt. On 2nd-and-goal, the 49ers have 11 personnel in a spread shotgun formation. Garoppolo takes the snap and hands the ball of to Hyde, who takes the ball down to the 2-yard line. Unfortunately, right tackle Trent Brown is called for a questionable holding penalty on the play, which pushes the 49ers back to the Bears’ 19-yard line:
On 2nd-and-goal, head coach Kyle Shanahan calls a shovel-pass to Hyde that goes for four yards. On 3rd-and-goal, the Bears rush three, and with eight opposing defenders in the end zone, Garoppolo dumps the ball off to Hyde, which he drops. On fourth down, the 49ers settle for a 33-yard field goal by kicker Robbie Gould.
Verdict: It’s difficult to blame this failed red-zone attempt on Garoppolo. Instead, blame poor blocking by Paulsen and Hyde’s bobble for the first setback, and a questionable penalty for the second.
Opportunity 2
At the end of the first quarter, the 49ers start the drive on their 25-yard line, before three consecutive Garoppolo passes take the Niners down to the Bears’ 16-yard line. A 3-yard run by Hyde on first down has the 49ers in a 2nd-and 7 on the Bears’ 13-yard line. The 49ers have 11 personnel in a spread pistol formation. After the snap, the Bears bring a heavy blitz, and although wide receiver Trent Taylor is about to break open into the end zone, Garoppolo spins out of the pocket before he’s able to find the open receiver. Rolling to his left, Garoppolo is forced to attempt a pass to wide receiver Louis Murphy, but the receiver isn’t able to get his feet down to complete the catch:
On 3rd-and-7, the Niners line up with 11 personnel in a spread shotgun formation. Garoppolo tosses a pass to Hyde in the flat, who’s upended after a 4-yard gain. The 49ers are forced to settle for a 28-yard Gould field goal:
Verdict: Garoppolo shoulders the blame for this failed red-zone attempt. Garoppolo was given two tries to gain seven yards; on the first, if Garoppolo sticks in the pocket, he has an easy touchdown pass to Taylor, and on the second, he misreads the defense and forces Hyde to take a big hit.
Opportunity 3
Near the end of the first half, Garoppolo drives his team down to the Chicago 16-yard line after a key third-down conversion. The 49ers line up with 11 personnel in an unbalanced pistol formation, with just tight end George Kittle on the boundary side of the formation. Kittle runs a middle route, sits down in the hole in the zone, and Garoppolo hits him with a 9-yard pass:
On 2nd-and-1, the Niners have 11 personnel in a pistol formation, before Kittle motions into the backfield next to Garoppolo. The quarterback takes the snap and hands the ball to Hyde up the middle, but instead of taking what he’s given, the running back tries to bounce the run outside, and gets caught near the sideline for no gain:
On third down, the 49ers are called for two consecutive false start penalties — one on Kittle and one on wide receiver Marquise Goodwin — which moves the team back 10 yards into a 3rd-and-11. Garoppolo attempts a pass to Kittle in the back corner of the end zone, but the tight end is unable to get his feet inbounds, so the Niners kick another short field goal.
Verdict: Garoppolo did what he needed to on first down with the 9-yard completion to Kittle. Hyde does a good job with his initial cut to the right, but he then has ample opportunity to put his head down to gain one yard. After failing to gain yardage on second down, the two penalties effectively killed the drive.
Opportunity 4
In the third quarter, the 49ers start the drive from their own 14-yard line, and march down the field thanks to three third-down conversions by Garoppolo. On 1st-and-10 from the Bears’ 20-yard line, Hyde runs right tackle for a four-yard gain. On second down, the 49ers have 21 personnel in I-Formation before Juszczyk motions up to the line of scrimmage. Garoppolo takes the snap and fires a quick pass to Murphy beyond the sticks, but Murphy fails to catch the pass cleanly, and it is ruled incomplete. Although he appears to make the reception, the 49ers lose their challenge, and the call stands:
On 3rd-and-6, the 49ers line up with 11 personnel in a shotgun formation, and motion Celek toward the near sideline. When he can’t initially find an open receiver, Garoppolo scrambles to his left and hits Kendrick Bourne just short of the sticks, but the play is negated when it’s determined that Bourne illegally touched the ball after stepping out-of-bounds. The drive concludes with Gould’s fourth field goal of the day:
Verdict: On his first pass attempt, Garoppolo throws a catchable pass to Murphy beyond the first-down marker, and on third down, the QB takes what he is given, and gives his receiver an opportunity to make a play.
Opportunity 5
After stopping the Bears on defense, the Niners’ offense gets the ball back down by two, with over five minutes on the clock. Beginning at their 8-yard line, the 49ers convert two third-down attempts before they’re faced with a 3rd-and-9 from their own 49-yard line. Again out of 11 personnel in a pistol formation, Garoppolo finds Taylor for a 33-yard catch-and-run down to the Bears’ 18-yard line:
The Niners proceed to run out the clock, with Garoppolo centering the ball for his kicker on third down. Gould converts his fifth field-goal attempt of the day, and Garoppolo has his first win as a 49er.
Verdict: This doesn’t qualify as a stalled drive, as the 49ers ran out the clock once they got into field-goal range.
Conclusion: In Garoppolo’s first eight drives as a Niner, he drove down the field into the red zone five times, resulting in five field goals. While the final field goal was by design, only one of the four stalled drives can be blamed on Garoppolo’s play. Of the remaining three drives, two were caused by the combination of penalties and bad plays in the run game, and one was the fault of receivers who failed to capitalize on catchable passes.
Next, we’ll take a look at Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers’ trips to the red zone in Week 14 against the Houston Texans.
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About the Author: Chris Wilson
