Ever since the crushing loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the 2022 NFC Championship Game, it was clear that the Jimmy Garoppolo era in San Francisco was over.
Throughout the offseason, then into the spring and throughout the summer, coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch made it abundantly clear that they had moved on to second-year quarterback Trey Lance. However, there seemed to persist a lingering possibility -- albeit microscopic at some points -- that there was a universe in which Garoppolo remained with San Francisco for the 2022 NFL season.
Well, we all know how that story ended. What almost was unthinkable at multiple points throughout the offseason came to fruition and after a bizarre turn of events, Garoppolo now is the starting quarterback for the 49ers once again.
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NBC Sports NFL columnist Peter King joined 95.7 The Game's "Damon & Ratto" on Tuesday afternoon, where he discussed Shanahan's relationship with Garoppolo and why the 49ers coach might have a soft spot for the quarterback regardless of his limitations on the field.
"Kyle Shanahan may have individual feelings about Garoppolo, which I'm certainly not aware of, but he may have individual feelings about Garoppolo that are not altogether positive," King said. "However, he also understands that Jimmy Garoppolo was on his team for one of the sweetest wins Kyle Shanahan has ever had in his football life."
Throughout the many ups and downs in the Garoppolo era, King recalls a private moment he shared with Shanahan and Lynch after the 49ers' monumental upset over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional round game last season and how happy Shanahan was after the game.
"I can tell you because a half hour-40 minutes after the game in Green Bay, I was sitting in Kyle Shanahan's office in Green Bay after the game and he and John Lynch were both having a (Modelo beer) ... they were sitting there and I have to tell you that Kyle Shanahan was as happy a person as I've seen in a long time," King recalls. "And it's because he knew what just happened. They went to Green Bay and stole a playoff game from Aaron Rodgers and from Matt LeFleur."
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King believes that despite what Shanahan might think of Garoppolo as a player, memorable wins such as the one in Green Bay might have played a role in Shanahan's heaping praise of the veteran quarterback even after the 49ers had moved on to Lance and why he and Lynch never seemed to close the door 100 percent on Garoppolo's future with the team.
"The only reason I'm mentioning this is because Kyle Shanahan knows he can think whatever he wants to think, the public can think whatever they want to think about Garoppolo, but quite honestly, Jimmy Garoppolo has been at the forefront of some gigantic wins in Kyle Shanahan's life," King explained. "And this was certainly one of them ... the reason I mention that is because Kyle Shanahan had to be thinking in the spring: 'let's not burn every bridge here, let's just keep our options open because you never know.'
"The only thing I'm saying is that it's eminently understandable why Kyle Shanahan wouldn't have wanted to burn a bridge because Jimmy Garoppolo, whatever you say about him, has been worth far more than a mid-second-rounder to this franchise."
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Garoppolo certainly has been at the forefront of many great moments for Shanahan and the 49ers, and the understanding that San Francisco can make deep playoff runs, despite lackluster performances from Garoppolo, is a testament to the winning culture he at least contributes.
Fortunately for the 49ers, it all came full circle. Because if it hadn't, and Garoppolo was elsewhere, San Francisco's season might have been over before it barely started.