The one thing missing from Jimmy Garoppolo's first start with 49ers

The Jimmy Garoppolo Era has begun with a glorious triumph that lacked only one thing you like to see from your quarterback.
 
Touchdowns.
 
Even one.
 
The San Franciscii won their second game of this forlorn season, 15-14, over the equally moribund Chicago Bears, and did so in a way that reminded its most devoted followers of the halcyon days of the Jimmy Harbaugh Era.
 
With field goals.
 
Garoppolo put up nice fantasy numbers – 293 yards on 26 of 37 attempts – but he will be defined over the long haul by touchdowns produced, not passing yards, and Sunday was his first real glimpse of what he is up against in turning this ocean liner around.
 
What he is skilled at right now is making fans feel good about their quarterback for the first time since the early days of He-Whose-Name-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned. He looks like Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard and Blaine Gabbert did not – a long-term solution to their most nagging of their many issues.
 
But his first game showed how difficult his transition will be. The 49ers, after all, are not just lacking a quarterback, but many things in many areas, and the only thing we learned Sunday is that the Bears are worse. Maybe Mitchell Trubisky can be a classic Bears quarterback, with lousy numbers on a run-and-defense-heavy team, but that depends on their talent acquisition skills.
 
Besides, this isn’t the day to declare Garoppolo anything except a handsome if slightly swarthy SOTB (Son Of The Boot). He did what was required Sunday, throwing an interception which was actually just a theft of a completion, and he gave off an aura of command with his new playmates, but it’s still too early to assume anything but his capability if provided sufficient weaponry and tutelage.
 
That is true of all quarterbacks, though. Tom Brady separated from Bill Belichick might not be Tom Brady (or, of course, vice versa) just as Joe Montana separated from Bill Walsh might not be Joe Montana (or, of course, vice versa). Neither quarterbacks nor coaches live in a vacuum, and Garoppolo could make Kyle Shanahan as Shanahan makes Garoppolo.
 
Or not. It depends, ultimately, on what Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have planned to fulfill Garoppolo’s destiny. And that takes more time than we have here to suss out.
 
But he is 1-0, largely through the good graces of Robbie Gould’s foot – just as Phil Dawson hid the sins of Garoppolo’s predecessors, and David Akers (except for 2012) before him and Joe Nedney before him.
 
So maybe Garoppolo’s true test will be how quickly he makes Gould obsolete by making him a conversion rather than a field goal specialist. Garoppolo’s ultimate job, after all, will be managing touchdowns, not field position. The 49ers rank third in field goals and field goals attempted over the last eight years while ranking 28th in touchdowns, and if Garoppolo fixes that, then he is worth all the hype and all the money and all the free drinks he can generate.
 
We will monitor. After all, we have little else to do.