Jimmy Garoppolo is the San Francisco 49ers quarterback for 2020 and the foreseeable future. After a tough Super Bowl defeat in which Garoppolo had a horrendous fourth quarter, the 49ers stuck with him despite reports the team was going to pursue Tom Brady in the offseason.  

49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan believes the best is yet to come regarding his franchise quarterback, who doesn't have to worry about offseason rehab from ACL surgery this time around. Shanahan doubled down on how good Garoppolo is -- and can be. 

"When you have to talk to Jimmy about one of the best quarterbacks of all time being available, I know Jimmy has a goal to be that," Shanahan said Thursday in a conference call with reporters, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. "I know Jimmy. I believe Jimmy has the ability to be that and that's what both of us are going for. If we can get him there and he has the ability to do it, we're going to be pretty happy with who we have for a long time."

By all statistical accounts, Garoppolo had a good season for the 49ers in his first full season as a starting quarterback. The 49ers went 13-3 as Garoppolo started all 16 games, completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 3,978 yards, 27 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and a 102.0 passer rating. His fourth-quarter performance in Super Bowl LIV was an anomaly rather than an indictment of his play. 

The 49ers were outscored 21-0 in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV after entering the final quarter with a 10-point lead. Garoppolo finished 20 of 31 for 219 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in the loss, but he was just 3 of 11 for 36 yards and an interception in the fourth quarter (2.8 passer rating). The key miss was an incompletion to a wide-open Emmanuel Sanders on an X-post that would have given San Francisco the lead with 1:49 to play. 

Garoppolo's next step as a quarterback is replicating his 2019 success, which is where Shanahan comes in. The more repetitions he gets, the better off he'll be.  

"Jimmy's learned the offense. He's fine with that. It's just being automatic," Shanahan said. "It's understanding coverages, going through everything where, I can't tell you how much more I know as a coach in year 17 or whatever then I did in Year 2. That never stops."