The San Francisco 49ers failed to come away with points on an ugly goal-line sequence in the first half of their game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Jimmy Garoppolo deserved much of the blame.
The Niners had 1st-and-goal from the New Orleans 6-yard line with just under five minutes remaining in the second quarter. They ran the ball and completed a short pass to set up 3rd-and-goal at the 2. Christian McCaffrey lined up alongside Garoppolo in the shotgun, and FOX analyst Mark Sanchez said to keep an eye on the running back as the primary receiving option out of the backfield.
Garoppolo should have done just that. McCaffrey ran a route into the flat and was totally ignored by the Saints’ defense. Garoppolo never looked his way and instead forced a pass Jauan Jennings, who was stopped short of the goal line. Keep an eye on the bottom of the screen in the video below:
Oh man, Christian McCaffrey was left wide open on 3rd and goal for a touchdown and the ball didn’t go his way pic.twitter.com/nNoJUHCLnR
— Christian (@ChristianR_Vill) November 27, 2022
The Niners then went for it on fourth down, and McCaffrey was on the sideline for the play. Garoppolo once again lined up in the shotgun and faked a handoff on what looked like a designed quarterback run. He had no chance of finding the end zone and was stopped well short of the goal line.
Had Garoppolo looked McCaffrey’s way on third down, the fourth-down play would not have been needed. Still, Kyle Shanahan’s playcall on fourth down was highly questionable. He tried to get too creative and it backfired. That was an all-around ugly sequence for San Francisco.
