49ers coach Kyle Shanahan avoiding putting added pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo

What was coach Kyle Shanahan’s message for Jimmy Garoppolo ahead of the biggest game of his professional career?

It wouldn’t exactly make for a stirring climax in a sports movie.

“Just be you. Do the same thing you do every single day,” Shanahan said. “Didn’t give him a big message this week. Just talk to him the same way I have every other week.”

Point being, Shanahan and Garoppolo’s teammates are going about their normal business and avoiding added pressure on the biggest game in six years, even as the locker room this week was packed with roughly three times the normal amount of media members while players were required to give midweek news conferences for the first time all year.

All eyes will be on Garoppolo as he makes his playoff debut Saturday against the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round of the playoffs. It’s San Francisco’s first home postseason game since the Super Bowl campaign in 2012 and since Levi’s Stadium was built.

The national television audience will serve as a pressure cooker and fans in the 6-year-old venue will provide the home-field advantage the team worked for all season by finishing 13-3 and getting the top seed in the NFC.

Garoppolo’s consistency makes him a leader

Yet as Shanahan said, there doesn’t appear to be much added weight on Garoppolo’s shoulders. After all, Garoppolo played in enough big games during the regular season that Saturday’s environment shouldn’t feel all that different. San Francisco played in meaningful games since late November and had the last five contests all came down to the final minute.

The 49ers’ two biggest games of the season, on the road in New Orleans and Seattle in the finale, featured Garoppolo’s best performances. He completed 44 of 57 for 634 yards with four touchdowns, which all came against the Saints, and one interception. His combined passer rating: 128.4.

Even on the road against Baltimore, in the rain, during San Francisco’s only road loss of the season, Garoppolo pieced together an efficient 110.2 passer rating while the Ravens won on a last-second field goal.

“I’m not really worried. Jimmy has been doing it all year,” tight end George Kittle when asked of Garoppolo’s postseason inexperience. “Every prime time game he shows up, plays well. He’s just going to do him and play really well. I just have that expectation of him. I have all the confidence in the world in him.”

Ask his teammates, and they’ll all reiterate the same thing. Garoppolo has been the same player behind the scenes this week as he was during the regular season.

Which is to say his consistency, while not earth-shattering, is also what makes him a strong leader. There’s no volatility in Garoppolo’s approach.

“This year, we’ve kind of put that pressure on ourselves where every single game’s been a playoff game,” guard Mike Person said. “And Jimmy has been the exact same guy from Day 1 of training camp to right now. So he’s not going to try and press and do anything differently in preparation. So he’s just going to be our leader and he’s just going to be out there and do what he does.”

He showed improvement after ACL tear

Still, the fact Garoppolo finally put together a 16-game regular season as a starting quarterback for the first time since entering the league 2014 has to change him as a player. He’s far from the skittish quarterback in Denver that completed 1 of 6 throws with an interception in his preseason debut while getting his first game action since tearing his ACL in 2018.

He finished the 2019 regular season fourth in completion rate (69.1 percent), third in yards per attempt (8.4), eight in passer rating (102.0) and his 27 touchdown passes were tied for fifth-most in the NFL. His four comebacks in the fourth quarter were also tied for most in the league.

The blemishes on his ledger were his 13 interceptions, though he trimmed his interception rate from 3.5 percent of his attempts to 2.2 after the team acquired receiver Emmanuel Sanders in October.

Garoppolo came to San Francisco with the benefit of experiencing three postseason runs with the New England Patriots, including two Super Bowl victories, as the backup quarterback to Tom Brady before getting traded. According to Shanahan, that helped Garoppolo wrap his mind around what he’s gone through the last two weeks since the 49ers earned the No. 1 seed by beating the Seahawks.

“You do see all the extra outside stuff that does come with it,” Shanahan said. “You’re not overwhelmed by it at all. Jimmy knows exactly what’s going to happen before it happens because he’s been through it at New England.”

Garoppolo’s self confidence was on display during his unbeaten five-game stretch as the starter back in the 2017 season, when he helped San Francisco become the first team in league history to finish 6-10 after starting 1-9.

Cousins could have been a 49er

It was after that stretch the 49ers decided to make Garoppolo the highest-paid player in football — momentarily, at least — by signing him to a five-year, $137.5 million contract that included over $48 million in guarantees at signing.

That decision is particularly notable this week because the likely alternative to Garoppolo will be on the opposing sideline.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins entered the playoffs in a similar lens as Garoppolo. Cousins wasn’t making his playoff debut like Garoppolo will, but he did make his first postseason appearance with his new team after losing first playoff start with Washington in the Wild Card round to Packers, 35-18, after 2015.

Like Garoppolo, Cousins hasn’t earned the trust of the masses like other quarterbacks with extensive postseason resumes.

Cousins, since becoming a full-time starter in 2015, developed a reputation for being unable to win big games. He put a dent in that thinking last week with his clutch performance against the heavily favored Saints, which included a well-thrown 43-yard strike to Adam Thielen in overtime that set up the game-winning touchdown, a 4-yard fade route to tight end Kyle Rudolph.

After Garoppolo signed his long-term contract, general manager John Lynch went public with Shanahan’s desire to eventually land Cousins, whom he played a significant role in drafting in the fourth round in 2012 while Washington’s offensive coordinator.

Being content with making a run at Cousins might have played a role in the 49ers passing on promising quarterback prospects Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson as Shanahan’s team instead opted for defensive lineman Solomon Thomas, who has not lived up to the billing as the No. 3 pick.

Shanahan this week spoke fondly of Cousins, who had arguably the most productive season of his career with a 107.4 passer rating while his 10 wins were the most of his five seasons as a starter.

“I think he’s always just steadily climbed,” Shanahan said. “Every time he’s gotten more opportunities, he’s only gotten better. I know when he’s had bad games, (but) he’s always learned from them, come back and respond. I think he’s been given the right opportunity. Whenever he’s been given the right opportunity, I think he’s shown people he’s one of the better quarterbacks in this league.”