Charvarius Ward shares Chiefs' plan to target Jimmy Garoppolo in Super Bowl 2020 win over 49ers
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in the 2020 Super Bowl. The game, which featured Jimmy Garoppolo of the 49ers and Patrick Mahomes, who was just beginning his rise to superstardom, lived up to expectations.
The 49ers seemed to have the game in check as they led 20-10 with a couple of minutes left in the third quarter.
But things changed, and now we know why the Chiefs were able to produce a comeback, and it's thanks to Jimmy Garoppolo, Charvarius Ward revealed.
Charvarius Ward discusses Chiefs' Super Bowl game plan regarding Jimmy Garoppolo
In 2020, while the 49ers were one of the NFL's better teams, there was a thought that if teams could put the ball in Garoppolo's hands and take away the 49ers' run game, this was the way to slay San Francisco.
Ward, who is now a 49er, said on the "Third and Long" podcast that the Chiefs' game plan was to make Garoppolo beat them.
“Our game plan was to put the ball in Jimmy’s hand," Ward said. "I hate to say this, but our game plan was kind of like to put the ball in Jimmy’s hand, but Kyle Shanahan was just calling run out and run. For some reason in the fourth quarter, they stopped running the ball, you know, kind of took over.”
So, had Shanahan not changed the game plan, Garoppolo might have been the Super Bowl winner that night, not Mahomes.
Jimmy Garoppolo now a Las Vegas Raider
Garoppolo stayed with the 49ers until the end of the 2022 season as the emergence of Brock Purdy gave Shanahan no choice by to install him as the team's starter.
With former New England Patriots coach Josh McDaniels the Las Vegas Raiders coach, he made a concerted effort to get Garoppolo to Las Vegas.
However, Garoppolo wasn't the same player as he went 3-3 in his six games before injury struck, and he threw an interception in each game as the Raiders' season went down the drain.
Now with McDaniels fired, exactly what the future looks like for Jimmy G is uncertain under Antonio Pierce. Garoppolo signed a three-year, $72 million deal, that has $33 million fully guaranteed, so the Raiders could go with Garoppolo next season.