It's Jimmy Time: Garoppolo to make first start as member of 49ers

There’s another quarterback change coming for an NFC team, though this one isn’t nearly as surprising as the Giants’ move earlier on Tuesday.

The San Francisco 49ers posted on Twitter that Jimmy Garoppolo will start this week against the Chicago Bears.

“#49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan met with the team’s quarterbacks today and informed them that Jimmy Garoppolo will start this Sunday in Chicago. Shanahan will meet with the media next on Wednesday afternoon,” the post read.

The move was almost expected, as rookie C.J. Beathard, who has started the last five games for San Francisco, suffered injuries to his left knee and hip in Sunday’s game against Seattle and it was unclear whether he’d be able to take part in practice this week.

The 49ers acquired Garoppolo, a second-round pick of the New England Patriots in 2014, in a trade on Oct. 30, but the former backup to Tom Brady has yet to start a game for San Francisco and made his first appearance in the game against the Seahawks.

Garoppolo played three snaps and completed both of his pass attempts, throwing a 10-yard touchdown to Louis Murphy with two seconds left in the game.

It was the Niners’ only touchdown of the day.

The 64th overall pick out of Eastern Illinois, Garoppolo started the first two games of last season with the Patriots due to Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for deflate-gate. He brought the Patriots back in Arizona against the Cardinals in the season opener, then was knocked out of the second game, against Miami, after being driven to the turf by the Dolphins’ Kiko Alonso.

This is the final year of his rookie contract, so it makes sense that the 49ers and Shanahan might want to see what they have in Garoppolo to confirm whether he is their quarterback of the future.