Nevius: 49ers have woken up from snoozer of a season

Forty-Niners fans might want to sit down. Take deep breaths. Maybe check the cupboard for some Dramamine.

Yep, this season has been a rocky ride. Ten games in and the team has had more ups and downs than last week’s stock market. It’s understandable if you feel a little queasy.

The Press Democrat’s Inside the 49ers blog

Imagine if you were Rip Van Football, a fanatic 49ers fan. You watch the stinker of a game against the Cardinals on Nov. 7, a 31-17 loss that even defensive captain Fred Warner called “embarrassing.”

So you throw down the TV remote, flop on the couch and fall into a deep sleep for three weeks. You wake up this morning, check the news and have a two-word reaction:

Wait.

What?

Because when Rip dozed off, the 49ers had lost five of their first eight tries, including four in a row. They were 3-5 and everyone said the playoffs were a pipe dream.

Knowledgeable pundits were announcing the team was going to replace Jimmy Garoppolo right away. Wunderkind Trey Lance had to get in there immediately.

And Kyle Shanahan had completely lost his mojo. Even he was second-guessing his play-calling. And the words “hot seat” and “Shanahan” were all over Google.

That was then.

Now, Rip, Shanahan is a genius. Garoppolo is not only still the starter, he’s hitting one third-down conversion after another. He was terrific in wins against the mighty Rams and the not-so-mighty Jags, to help raise their record to 5-5.

There’s serious talk of the 49ers in the hunt for an NFC wild-card slot, with this game with Minnesota featuring playoff implications.

And last week, Shanahan said not only is Jimmy the starter, he may be back next year.

Whoops, Rip just fainted.

So what huge changes took place to turn this team around? What happened?

I’d submit — nothing.

This is the same team. A little healthier. (Getting George Kittle back is key.) But there weren’t big changes to the roster or new offensive or defensive coordinators.

They have the same flaws — shaky secondary, offensive-line uncertainty and a defense that is always a risk to give up a big play.

They’ve been better at covering those up — a lack of pass-interference plays has been important — but those are still places where they are vulnerable.

And they have the same strengths. When clicking, they can run the bejeebers out of the ball. Garoppolo has a quick release, knows where to throw and has been avoiding the killer interception. Nick Bosa is a monster.

With that in mind, here are a few truths we hold are self-evident.

First, like quarterbacks everywhere, Garoppolo plays better when he isn’t getting knocked over. People say he is “injury prone,” but he’s also prone to getting run over by 280-pound onrushing freight trains.

So far he’s been sacked 16 times, but four of those were in the 30-28 loss to Green Bay. That was the beginning of a five-game stretch where he had his lowest QB ratings of the year.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think he was a little dinged up after getting banged around.

Lots of the 49er Faithful griped about Garoppolo after the Green Bay game — he threw a pick and fumbled once — but I’d suggest it was his best game so far.

He threw 40 passes, completing 25, for 257 yards. But more importantly, with 2:39 left in the game, down 28-27, Garoppolo engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive, virtually all with passes.

His final throw was a touchdown to Kyle Juszczyk with 37 seconds left. Leading long, last-second, come-from-behind winning drives is the gold standard for NFL quarterbacks.

Incredibly, even though the Packers had no time outs left, Aaron Rodgers hit two long passes to set up the 51-yard field goal that won the game.

Arrrrgh. It is in-ex-CUSE-able for a defense to let receivers get behind them in that situation. If the 49ers miss the playoffs by one game, that’s the one they will want back.

As for Shanahan, at some point he’s going to have to admit he stirred up unnecessary drama with the Garoppolo-Lance melodrama.

First, he and John Lynch went all in on Jimmy in 2019, signing him to a five-year, $137 million-plus contract to make him the quarterback of the future.

But they got nervous and decided to bet the farm on Lance. And then, when the inevitable quarterback controversy came up — why isn’t Lance playing? — they offered only tepid support for Garoppolo.

Until, that is, Jimmy G started playing really well — over a 100 QB rating for the last four games. And, we speculate, they got a good look at Lance and began to wonder if they wanted to hand the car keys over to the kid.

And now, suddenly, Garoppolo is not just the best option this year, but maybe for next year, too?

What can’t happen is another Garoppolo injury. Minnesota has only generated 13 sacks this year, second-fewest in the NFL, so that’s a good start.

Meanwhile, the defense has steadied, with Bosa and Warner the irreplaceable men. A little pregame prayer for the secondary wouldn’t be out of order.

But overall, you have to like the way they are trending. The playoffs are not out of the question, which would be a win for this roller-coaster season.

Also, we learned something.

Don’t sleep on the 49ers.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius