INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- As quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo walked slowly to the locker room for perhaps the final time as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, he stopped and embraced general manager John Lynch.
Garoppolo and the Niners' latest comeback attempt had just been derailed when his last-gasp fling to JaMycal Hasty bounced off the running back's hands and into those of Los Angeles Rams linebacker Travin Howard.
A dazed Garoppolo hugged Lynch back as the two shared some comforting words following San Francisco's 20-17 loss to the division rival Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's NFC Championship Game, a defeat that stung all the more because the Niners coughed up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter much like they did in Super Bowl LIV.