“This man has changed the skyline of this city”. This is what American television host David Letterman pronounced during Peyton Manning’s statue unveiling outside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. After Manning’s retirement and the end of Tom Brady’s career begrudgingly edging closer and closer. The thought turns to the younger generation of quarter-backs currently gracing the gridiron, some of these names include L.A. Rams QB Jared Goff, certain to be sophomore star Deshaun Watson, and 2017/2018 season MVP candidate Carson Wentz. Despite how talented and skilled the aforementioned players are, there’s no stopping the quarterback of the California residing San Francisco 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo. Jimmy Garoppolo, just like the greats of Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana and Peyton Manning will change the skyline of San Francisco forever.

The San Francisco 49ers were on the verge on appearing in their second consecutive Super Bowl in the January of 2014, that was until the now 49er line-backer Malcolm Smith intercepted Colin Kaepernick’s end zone fade, off a miraculous bat down from, once again now 49er, Richard Sherman. Since that moment the 49ers were in a tailspin. The epitome of the NFL’s catastrophic nature, where anything can change in a few seconds. The Niners followed that disappointing NFC Championship game with a poor 8-8 season which would mean the end for highly-rated coach John Harbaugh. Following Harbaugh several first team players left the team, including Hall of Fame running-back Frank Gore, promising rookie line-backer Chris Borland and leader of the defence middle line-backer Patrick Willis. These departures left the 49ers a shell of their former selves. Thus, setting the 5-time Super Bowl champions adrift. Lost in the ethers of the NFL.

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In the wake of the exorcism that was the 2014 off-season, fan favourite and long- time defensive line coach Jim Tomsula was made head coach of the 49ers. Regardless of Tomsula’s rapport with fans and silly antics, such as farting in a press conference, his time as head coach was over after a lacklustre 5-11 season. The front office tried injecting new life into the franchise by appointing hotshot offensive wizard Chip Kelly as head coach. However, Kelly had just been axed by Philadelphia a few months before following a poor end to his tenure in the city of brotherly love. This decision led to an even worse season, by January the Niners had finished just 2-14 after attaining two measly wins against a Jeff Fisher led Rams team. The Tomsula-Kelly era of the 49ers was a short one. Just two years it lasted. But to Niner fans everywhere it felt like a lifetime.

The two front office constants throughout those tough two years were the owner- Jed York and the general manager- Trent Baalke. Some believe the reason for the absolute collapse of the 49ers were in part due to the poor draft selections Baalke had. From 2012-2016, only five draft selections remain on the 49ers roster. This coupled with the decision to let Harbaugh go due to in-fighting meant Baalke had out-stayed his welcome with the franchise by the time he was fired just after the 2016 season.

The reason for this painful backstory of the San Francisco 49ers is to juxtapose it with the position the team is in now. Just as the Super Bowl contenders went from almost hoisting the Lombardi to picking second overall in the 2017 draft. The fortunes of the team from the ‘Golden State’ soon changed rapidly once again.

When John Lynch was appointed as the 49ers new general manager many were sceptical. Lynch had excelled on the field, being a Hall of Fame safety and winning Super Bowl 37 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But could he achieve the same level of success off the gridiron as he did on it? Only time will tell. However, he certainly has had a promising start.

Lynch’s first act as general manager of the 49ers was to appoint the hottest assistant coach in football at the time, Kyle Shanahan, as head coach. Whilst true that the 49ers did try to take an offensive direction the previous season with Chip Kelly as head coach which had disastrous results for the franchise. However, Shanahan’s system is less collegiate than Kelly’s fast paced spread scheme, focusing much more on play-action bootleg system, sucking a defence in by establishing the run and then hitting them over the top with an explosive pass at the perfect moment. Shanahan’s offense has the potential to be a timeless one due to his mixing of the West Coast offense with a contrasting vertical game. You can see Shanahan’s influence in such prolific offenses such as the L.A. Rams and the Minnesota Vikings.

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Shanahan’s appointment was all but certain with or without the help of John Lynch, so the amount of praise Lynch deserves for that decision is up for debate. Following some astute free agent acquisitions and an impressive showing in his debut draft as 49ers GM things were looking good for the former hard-hitting DB. By December the 49ers were 1-10. On course for yet another disappointing season after several close and not so close defeats. Yet, better times were soon ahead. The Niners would go on to finish the season a robust 6-10, with some analysts claiming them the hottest team in football come January and even vying for the team to claim a playoff spot on entertainment value alone. So, what was the reason for this sudden upturn in form?

On the 1st of November 2017 the 49ers made a trade which may come to change the landscape of the entire NFL for years to come. San Francisco sent a 2018 second round pick to New England in exchange for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

The news came as a shock to many as if Garoppolo were ever to leave New England and not become the successor to Tom Brady, it would be to join the Cleveland Browns. Due to Brady seemingly winning the battle versus Father Time the contentious decision to trade Garoppolo was made. Under Garoppolo’s leadership the Niners finished the season 6-10, Garoppolo going undefeated in all of his starts. This impressive five game winning streak included a hard fought victory over the Chicago Bears, a flawless two minute drill to secure the win against the playoff Tennessee Titans and an striking victory over the AFC South champs Jacksonville Jaguars.

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To the casual viewer the upsurge of the Niners may come as a sudden shock. But to those watching the team closely the signs of improvement were bubbling under the surface. Losing the first six games by a joint total of 11 points. A new record for the NFL. Shanahan’s offence was outwardly less effective than it had been in Atlanta the previous season. The crux of the problem was the quarterback- Brian Hoyer. Hoyer, the epitome of journeyman QB, was meant to be a safe set of hands in which to helm the 49ers offence having worked with Shanahan in Cleveland during the 2014 season. Hoyer could not have been any worse. Shackling the offence, and in turn the entire team, by making short, poor reads and ending his 49er tenure by being benched for rookie 3rd rounder C.J. Beathard. Eventually being released after Jimmy Garoppolo’s arrival in November.

There are 32 teams in the National Football League, only half of those teams, if that, have a franchise quarterback capable enough to lead the team. Out of 7 billion people on the planet, 325 million of those from the United States of America, only 5 people on Earth are capable of playing the quarterback position at an elite level. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger. Franchise quarterbacks are like stardust, and the San Francisco 49ers have someone, in Jimmy Garoppolo, that will change the skyline of the city forever.