Was there a chip on Jimmy G’s shoulder?

That was an interesting comment about Jimmy Garoppolo by Joe Staley on the 49ers post-game show. Also a telling one.

About a run in which the entire Niners offense–including Garoppolo, the quarterback--grouped together to push and shove Elijah Mitchell to a touchdown, looking more like rugby than football.

 “Might have seen a little chip on that play,” said Staley, now in front of a microphone after years of being at the front  of San Francisco’s offensive line.

 What Staley meant, of course, was a chip on Garoppolo’s shoulder, an anger, an eagerness to get back at the doubters and whiners as well as get the team out of its four-game losing streak.

The 49ers finally did just that Sunday, coming back to beat the Bears, 33-22, in Chicago.

 “Everyone was there,” Garoppolo would say about the play, “so I just tried to jump in.”

 Which maybe will stop the knocks—ex-teammate Staley, included--from jumping all over Garoppolo. And head coach Mike Shanahan. And general manager John Lynch.

But won’t.

You’ve heard the phrase “Game change,” used about everything from business to politics. Mitchell’s five-yard—well, it was less a run than a wrestling match—in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, changed this game.

It put the Niners safely ahead. It also might have put Garoppolo safely away his numerous critics for  a week or two, although if the screaming to start rookie Trey Lance ahead of Jimmy G, diminishes, it won’t leave entirely.

Garoppolo, in his fifth season with the Niners, often injured, occasionally praised, called it noise. But after finding satisfaction at Soldier Field, maybe a half hour from where he grew up, he conceded, “The win means a lot to me.”

 He was 17  for 28 for  322 yards passing, including an 83-yard play to and by Deebo Samuel. And while Garoppolo didn’t throw for any touchdowns he did run for two. He also became the leader quarterbacks need to be.

“I thought he had a hell of a game,” said Shanahan,  whose play-calling has been belittled no less than the way his quarterback performed.

“It’s nice to maybe not have to listen to it as much for a week. It goes with the territory. That’s part of the business. If you can’t deal with it, you usually don’t last. And he handled it very well this week.”

What the whole team handled was the perfect way it handled the ball, no interceptions, no lost tumbles, a turnaround from all those turnovers which contributed to the four straight losses  after starting the season 2-0.

 The last loss was a week ago to Indy in the rain at Levi Stadium. Staley a six-time Pro Bowl lineman, was irritated by what happened—or didn’t happen—that game.

"He came out, everybody knew exactly what they were going to go with,”  Staley told viewers that night, referring to Garoppolo.

 “They came out in the second and third drive and they were throwing the ball a little more on first and second down. Not having success and staying ahead of the chains. You got in third down situations much more consistently than you wanted to be, that were third-and-long more than you wanted.”

Now what Staley wants is for Garoppolo to do in future games what he did Sunday,-display a feistiness he implied is responsible for success.

 “I hope he carries that chip forward,”  Staley said this time about Garoppolo.

 When a reporter, acknowledging what the quarterback had endured the last month, asked Garoppolo. If he “needed this game for your sanity,”  he had a ready answer.

 “I think the team needed a victory,” he said.

 One mission accomplished. Perhaps two.