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Early last week, no one was even sure if Jimmy Garoppolo would be suited up for Sunday's regular-season finale. The Los Angeles Rams had to figure the safe bet was a matchup against San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance. And, of course, head coach Kyle Shanahan was being coy about which quarterback he planned to start.
Garoppolo played through a torn ligament and chipped bone in his right thumb. After Sunday's thrilling playoff-clinching 27-24 overtime win, the quarterback admitted that he had a good feeling early in the week that he would be able to play.
"Yeah, I think it was Tuesday we did the throwing session, tested it out, turned it into a game-like scenario," Garoppolo explained. "I kept being aware of it the whole week, but I had a pretty good feeling on Tuesday that I was going to be able to do it. It was just a matter of pain tolerance, really."
Who knows if the 49ers would be sitting in their current position without Garoppolo's gutsy performance against the Rams. The team is in the playoffs and will travel to Arlington, Texas, this weekend to face the Dallas Cowboys in the opening round of the postseason.
It wasn't easy, though. The 49ers had to overcome a 17-point deficit, and Garoppolo had to endure a lot of pain to escape SoFi Stadium with a win on Sunday.
"I thought, to get to the playoffs, you need your quarterback to step up, especially down 17-0," NFL Media analyst Brian Baldinger said Tuesday morning on 95.7 The Game. "I don't know that you could have asked for anything more from Jimmy Garoppolo or any quarterback. I mean, pick a quarterback in 49ers history—[Joe] Montana, [Steve] Young—that performance by Jimmy in the second half was about as good as it gets. And they needed all of it in order to win that game and to move on and march on to play this weekend.
"I thought he was great. It was great to see it. ... They don't make them any tougher than Jimmy. Like, that guy will stay in there and take a hit with the best of them and not flinch. He looked good in the press conference. He always looks good. But I thought that he vindicated himself quite a bit in that game."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Baldinger below.
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