As the San Francisco 49ers begin their 2022 offseason, there’s been push and pull from the fanbase on what should happen to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Some of the Niner faithful believe Jimmy G has played well enough to stick around, and that the team’s two NFC Championship visits and run to Super Bowl LIV are signs that San Francisco already has the right guy.

On the other side, there are some ready to see the 29-year-old leave. The 49ers already placed their bet on rookie Trey Lance in the 2021 NFL draft, and San Francisco needs to move forward with the promising quarterback.

This scenario reminded Sports Illustrated’s Clark Judge of one he’s seen before: the Denver Broncos under Mike Shanahan. Besides the obvious connection to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, Judge wrote about how the Broncos ditched their quarterback Jake Plummer despite reaching the 2005 AFC Championship with him in favor of a new, young QB in Jay Cutler.

“The move [to trade up for Trey Lance,]” Judge said. “Like Denver’s 15 years earlier, is designed to make them more Super Bowl-ready with an inexperienced quarterback who reportedly has a high football IQ, takes care of the football and can move the chains in a myriad of ways. And maybe it does. But it didn’t work out for Mike Shanahan, and it may not work out for his son.

“‘Those that fail to learn from history,’ Winston Churchill wrote, ‘are doomed to repeat it.’

Consider that a warning.”