Jimmy Garoppolo calmly led a game-winning field-goal drive Saturday night at Lambeau Field, then dropped an F-bomb on the Packers on the way out.
The 49ers quarterback was celebrating after a 13-10 win in the NFC divisional round when he ran into kicker Robbie Gould, who nailed the game-winning 45-yard field goal. After telling Gould he was a “f–king legend,” a fired-up Garoppolo added some color.
“F–k the Packers,” Garoppolo appeared to say in a postgame embrace with Gould, as captured by NFL Network’s Stacey Dales.
Garoppolo finished the night completing 11 of 19 passes for 131 yards and an interception. But he came through when the 49ers needed it most, leading the game-winning drive that began on the 49ers’ 29-yard line with 3:20 left in a 10-10 game.
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Shaking off a torn ligament in his right thumb and a sprained right shoulder, Garoppolo completed passes to George Kittle and Deebo Samuel for a combined 26 yards to jumpstart the drive before three straight Samuel runs pushed the 49ers into field-goal territory.
While Garoppolo showed off his emotion after the game, he said it took the opposite to eventually pull out the win after trailing for most of the game.
“There was a calmness,” Garoppolo told reporters. “A sense of, we are still controlling this. It’s just going to take one drive. You just have to chip away. It was a mature type of game where you had to be patient with it.”
Garoppolo will now get a chance to play in the NFC Championship game next week, perhaps against his old Patriots teammate Tom Brady.
“Jimmy G, you can’t say enough about that guy,” Kittle said. “The s—t he takes. Consistently people try to pull him down and all he does is try to lead this team. He is the sense of calm in the huddle, he is the sense of calm in the storm. He allows us to play football at a high level.”
