CHICAGO – After his first week of practice as the 49ers’ starting quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo has undoubtedly formed some opinions about which specific plays in the team's game plan he is comfortable executing.
Other plays that might hold a little more uncertainty will end up on the cutting-room floor before the 49ers take the field Sunday against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
“People ask, ‘Does he know the whole offense, yet?’ It’s not like that,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said on “49ers Game Plan,” which airs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Bay Area (Ch. 3).
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“He knows the offense for this week because we put it in for him. And we put it in to attack Chicago. And I think he’s ready to go with all the stuff we have in.”
Shanahan shared the structure of the final 36 hours before Sunday's game:
On Friday evening, he pieces together the opening 24 offensive plays of the game.
“Never do we go 1 through 24, but there are usually 24 plays we plan starting on,” Shanahan said. “We skip around. On Saturday (morning), I’ll show all the guys. (It’s) stuff we’ve been running throughout the week.”
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The 49ers have a short walk-through on Saturday. Then, Shanahan returns to his hotel room and watches film for most of the remainder of the day.
The quarterbacks meet at 7:30 p.m. the night before the game.
“I get in there with Jimmy and all the other quarterbacks and for about 45 minutes we go through the game plan,” Shanahan said. “He tells me what he likes and what he’s not comfortable with, and I tell him what I’m thinking.”
Garoppolo might not be as comfortable with as many plays as Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard earlier this season. Shanahan said he will have the option to repeat play calls against the Bears.
“It depends on what (defenses) they’re playing,” Shanahan said. “I have no problem repeating plays. If something works and they don’t adjust, I’ll definitely keep doing it until they adjust.
“The goal is to put the defense in a bind, so if there’s something you’re successful with and puts their scheme under pressure, then you attack in that area until they change. And when they change, you have to change. That’s why you try to put enough stuff into a game plan that allows you to do that.”