The San Francisco 49ers watched their starting quarterback leave with an injury after being hit by Steven Nelson of the Chiefs.
The San Francisco 49ers suffered more than just a 38-27 loss in the standings on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs. Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo went down after being hit in the fourth quarter and was carted off to the locker room.
Garoppolo took off on a running play and instead of taking the angle out of bounds against the Chiefs, he attempted to earn some more yards by cutting back into the field of play. Chiefs cornerback Steven Nelson responded with a big hit and Garoppolo was unable to get up for some time.
The Niners now turn to C.J. Beathard as a backup if Garoppolo is unable to go for the rest of the game or even next week, which looking at the injury, it certainly seems like it’s a possibility.
With the loss, the Niners move to 1-2 on the season and must head south to face the Los Angeles Chargers on the road in a tough Week 4 match-up to right the ship. Garoppolo finished the day with 20 completions on 30 attempts for 251 passing yards and 2 touchdowns with zero interceptions on the day. He also rushed 3 times for 23 rushing yards.
Garoppolo was the centerpiece added to the Niners offense last season after a blockbuster trade with the New England Patriots brought him over to Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Garoppolo went undefeated down the stretch for the Niners at the end of 2017 and signaled great things to come. However, the 2018 season has not gone as planned so far for San Francisco in early losses to the Minnesota Vikings and the Chiefs in addition to a very close win over the Detroit Lions.