Jimmy Garoppolo’s season is OVER after breaking his left foot as 49ers beat Dolphins

The San Francisco 49ers lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a season-ending injury to his broken left foot on Sunday, dealing a heavy blow to one of the best teams in the NFL.

Garoppolo was injured in the opening series of a 33-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins and will have to undergo season-ending surgery.

It’s pretty crushing. We know what Jimmy’s been through, how hard he’s worked on this,’ coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game. “That was a really cool game, just as a team and all the things that happened throughout the game and just being able to get through a few things.”

‘So it’s such a special win. But definitely mixed emotions hearing about Jimmy.

The first-place 49ers (8-4) have won five straight games to establish themselves as one of the top contenders in the NFC, but now they must go the rest of the way with untested rookie Brock Purdy after losing to starter Trey Lance for one season. Put an end to the ankle injury in week 2.

This marks the third time Garoppolo has had a season derailed by injury since joining the 49ers midway through the 2017 season. He went down to a season-ending knee injury in Game 3 of the 2018 season and he missed eight games with ankle injuries in 2020.

In Garoppolo’s two healthy seasons, the Niners reached the Super Bowl in 2019 and the NFC title game in 2021.

But his record led the Niners to trade three first-round picks to draft Lance third overall in 2021. Garoppolo kept his job last year but was supposed to continue this season before undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. It would destroy your business market.

He ended up returning to San Francisco on a reduced contract to be Lance’s backup, but resumed his starting role when Lance was injured. He was playing the best football of his career.

“It’s brutal,” running back Christian McCaffrey said. I haven’t been here long, but I can’t say enough good things about it. I’ve been in that position before, where you’re playing and you’re excited and it’s over for the year. Hurts.’

Now the Niners will try to go the rest of the way with Purdy, who came into the league as Mr. Irrelevant after being selected in the final draft, but now has the most important job at one of the best teams in the league.

The former Iowa State star had thrown just nine passes on cleanup duty in a Week 7 loss to Kansas City before quarterbacks coach Brian Griese told him it would be his moment in the spotlight on Sunday. .

“I feel like there was a bit like, the whole butterfly feeling of ‘Man, let’s go in, let’s do this,'” Purdy said. ‘It wasn’t like I was out there shaking like, ‘Oh shoot, what do I do? What is my reading? Nothing of that. Every week I act like he’s the headline. I prepare as if it were the starter. My name was called. Coach Griese said to keep rolling.

Purdy threw a touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk on his first drive and another to McCaffrey to cap a well-executed two-minute drill late in the half.

He finished 25 of 37 passing for 210 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against an aggressive Miami defense that tried to baffle him with blitzes.

“Brock has played a lot of soccer and it shows,” Juszczyk said. ‘Just the way he plays the position, he’s got an intelligence to him. He has an understanding. He has a trust for him. I think he did a really good job today in the group, just earning everyone’s respect and making plays come in and out and delivering some confident passes. I think we can definitely still do some things with Brock.

Purdy joins a team that features one of the best defenses in the league led by Nick Bosa, who had three sacks Sunday, and a deep group of playmakers led by McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk.

Purdy passed his first test, but it only gets tougher from here.

“We have to clean up some stuff, obviously, but only throwing him out there in the heat of battle like that, with the amount of (blitzing) that team did,” Shanahan said. “I thought he did a great job doing it and he protected the ball well.”