1st 2nd 3rd 4th Tot
SF 7 6 0 14 27
KC 7 3 7 0 17

The San Francisco 49ers ended up getting a significantly better performance from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in their preseason bout with the Kansas City Chiefs than they did against the Denver Broncos last Monday.

Instead of going 1-of-6 for a total of zero yards and an interception, Garoppolo finished Saturday night's bout in Kansas City with a 14-of-20 passing line for 188 yards and a 20-yard touchdown to running back Matt Breida, whose wheel route and end-zone catch was pretty solid:


San Francisco now stands 3-0 this preseason after beating the Chiefs 27-17 in Week 3 of the preseason.

Garoppolo struggled a bit early, tossing a few passes behind his intended targets. But that evaporated on the touchdown drive, for the most part, as the Niners managed to respond to a quick three-play touchdown drive from the Chiefs, which gave Kansas City a brief 7-0 lead early in the contest.


Both teams exchanged field goals before Garoppolo engineered a two-minute drill to put kicker Robbie Gould in range for a 35-yard field goal just before halftime. Overall, Garoppolo finished the night with a 116.2 passer rating in the same venue where he tore his ACL in Week 3 of the regular season last year.

Breida was also solid during the game, rushing for 44 yards on seven carries for an average of 6.3 yards per carry. In contrast, fellow running back Tevin Coleman managed just 19 yards on nine carries.

Nick Mullens relieved Garoppolo at quarterback after halftime, suggesting the alternate placement head coach Kyle Shanahan envisioned between Mullens and his primary competitor for the No. 2 signal-caller job, C.J. Beathard. But Mullens' first drive petered out, which led to an impressive 62-yard punt from punter Mitch Wishnowsky, yet that wasn't enough to prevent a 97-yard drive from Kansas City ending in a 6-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Byron Pringle.

Trailing 17-13 at that point, the 49ers moved down the field with Mullens and some key passes to wide receiver Jordan Matthews, who is striving to make the 53-man roster amid a crowded depth chart this preseason. On one play, Mullens overthrew a wide-open Matthews, yet responded to hit him shortly thereafter.

Running back Jeff Wilson, who's also battling for a spot, ran it in from four yards out to give San Francisco the lead back with 11:13 in the fourth quarter. He then added another with just under four minutes in regulation:



Mullens finished the night going 8-of-11 for 84 yards and a passer rating of 94.5. Beathard didn't play, as undrafted rookie Wilton Speight finished up San Francisco's offensive efforts late in the fourth quarter.

The Niners will host the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Levi's Stadium. NFL rosters have to be trimmed down to 53 players the following Saturday, Aug. 31.


SF Team Stats KC
23 First Downs 12
381 Total Yards 248
257 Pass Yards 185
124 Rush Yards 63
4 (25) Penalties (Yds) 6 (61)
0 Turnovers 0
2 (56) Punts (Avg) 5 (48)
35:03 Time of Pos. 24:57

49ers Player Stats
Passing Cmp/Att Yds TDs INTs
J. Garoppolo 14/20 188 1 0
N. Mullens 8/11 84 0 0
Rushing Att Yds TDs Lg
J. Wilson 12 45 2 9
M. Breida 7 44 0 13
T. Coleman 9 19 0 5
A. Walter 5 19 0 8
W. Speight 2 -3 0 -1
Receiving Rec Yds TDs Lg
R. James 4 66 0 33
D. Pettis 3 36 0 16
J. Matthews 2 33 0 22
M. Breida 2 31 1 20
R. Dwelley 2 30 0 23
D. Samuel 2 27 0 21
K. Bourne 2 25 0 18
K. Juszczyk 2 9 0 5
M. Goodwin 1 9 0 9
K. Smith 1 4 0 4
T. Coleman 1 2 0 2
Fumbles Fum Lost Rec Yds
D. Pettis 1 0 1 0
Kicking FG Lg XP Pts
R. Gould 2/2 35 3/3 9
Punting No Avg I20 Lg
M. Wishnowsky 2 57 1 62
Kickoff Returns No Avg TDs Lg
R. James 2 21 0 23
D. Samuel 1 26 0 26
Punt Returns No Avg TDs Lg
D. Reed 2 5 0 12
D. Pettis 1 9 0 9
Defense T-A Sck INTs FF
D. Moore 3-2 2 0 0
D. Johnson 3-0 0 0 0
K. Alexander 2-1 0 0 0
J. Ward 2-1 0 0 0
E. Moseley 2-0 0 0 0
A. Exum 2-0 0 0 0
M. Harris 2-0 0 0 0
A. Armstead 1-1 0.5 0 0
A. Al-Shaair 1-1 0 0 0
D. Greenlaw 1-1 0 0 0
F. Warner 0-2 0 0 0
S. Thomas 0-2 0 0 0
J. Tartt 1-0 0 0 0
M. Smith 1-0 0 0 0
A. Witherspoon 1-0 0 0 0
T. Moore 1-0 0 0 0
D. Jones 1-0 0 0 0
D. Reed 1-0 0 0 0
J. Bromley 0-1 0.5 0 0
D. Buckner 0-1 0 0 0
K. Givens 0-1 0 0 0

Chiefs Player Stats
Passing Cmp/Att Yds TDs INTs
K. Shurmur 9/12 67 0 0
P. Mahomes 8/10 126 1 0
C. Litton 1/6 5 0 0
Rushing Att Yds TDs Lg
D. Williams 5 19 0 9
K. Shurmur 2 14 0 15
D. Thompson 3 8 0 6
P. Mahomes 1 8 0 8
B. Pringle 1 6 1 6
S. Watkins 1 5 0 5
Dam. Williams 1 2 0 2
C. Hyde 1 1 0 1
Receiving Rec Yds TDs Lg
Dam. Williams 3 74 1 62
M. Hardman 3 40 0 18
T. Hill 3 31 0 12
B. Bell 2 13 0 7
D. Thompson 2 9 0 8
S. Watkins 1 13 0 13
C. Thompson 1 5 0 5
B. Pringle 1 5 0 5
T. Smith 1 5 0 5
D. Williams 1 3 0 3
Kicking FG Lg XP Pts
H. Butker 1/1 25 2/2 5
Punting No Avg I20 Lg
D. Colquitt 3 53.7 1 67
J. Fox 2 49 0 53
Kickoff Returns No Avg TDs Lg
R. Fenton 1 28 0 28
B. Pringle 1 27 0 27
M. Hardman 1 21 0 21
T. Smith 1 19 0 19
N. Keizer 1 6 0 6
Punt Returns No Avg TDs Lg
M. Hardman 1 2 0 2
Defense T-A Sck INTs FF
D. Sorensen 4-2 0 0 0
B. Niemann 4-2 0 0 0
J. Thornhill 4-1 0 0 0
M. Fields 3-2 0 0 0
D. O'Daniel 2-2 0 0 0
M. Claiborne 3-0 0 0 0
D. Lee 2-1 0 0 0
D. Wilson 1-2 0 0 0
T. Kpassagnon 2-0 1 0 0
J. Hamilton 2-0 0 0 0
R. McCray 2-0 0 0 0
F. Clark 1-1 1 0 0
K. Saunders 1-1 0 0 0
A. Watts 1-1 0 0 0
C. Walker 1-1 0 0 0
A. Hitchens 0-2 0 0 0
R. Ragland 0-2 0 0 0
B. Breeland 1-0 0 0 0
R. Fenton 1-0 0 0 0
D. Nnadi 1-0 0 0 0
A. Okafor 1-0 0 0 0
E. Ogbah 1-0 0 0 0
D. Wade 1-0 0 0 0
J. Attaochu 1-0 0 0 0
H. Dimick 1-0 0 0 0
C. Jones 0-1 0 0 0
H. Miller 0-1 0 0 0


Written By:

Peter Panacy


Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
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