A few weeks ago, my hopes and dreams were slashed. The unexpected happened. The unforeseen happened. The heart-breaking happened. Jimmy Garoppolo, the young buck who the 49ers were going to ride to the playoffs with, was horribly injured. Well, there goes another season down the drain for the 49ers. Yes, another. Lost? Let’s catch you up.

The beginning of the end for the 49ers started back at the end of the 2014 season, when Head Coach Jim Harbaugh was fired after a ‘mediocre’ season with an 8-8 record. The following year, Jim Tomsula attempted to take charge, but to no avail as the 49ers ended their season having won only five of their 16 games. Chip Kelly was hired the next year, this time finishing with a distasteful 2-14 record. It was this same year that quarterback Colin Kaepernick became a free agent. Finally, the 49ers decided to clean house with the firings of Kelly and General Manager Trent Baalke and secured John Lynch as the General Manager and Kyle Shanahan as Head Coach.

All caught up? That’s where we currently stand in terms of management. As for quarterbacks, ever since the departure of Colin Kaepernick, the 49ers have gone through the likes of Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, CJ Beathard and Brian Hoyer. Then, late last season, the 49ers somehow managed to snag Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who radiantly shined in the few games he played as a replacement for Tom Brady, the starting Patriots quarterback. And everything paid off. In the last few remaining games that Garoppolo started, the 49ers won. Ultimately, during the offseason, the 49ers elected to sign Garoppolo as their franchise quarterback to a gigantic five-year, 137.5 million dollar deal, which was also the most a player was paid on an annual basis in the NFL at the time (Aaron Rodgers went on to sign a 76 million dollar per year deal.

So, all’s well that ends well? Nope. In the fourth quarter of just the third game of the season, Garoppolo decided to take a game-changing, or even season-changing risk and run the ball himself. In an attempt to gain a few extra yards, while leading a 49ers comeback, Garoppolo tried to elude a defender, but instead clumsily crashed into him, then planted and buckled his knee. Eventually, Garoppolo had to be carted off the field and was replaced by backup CJ Beathard. In the end, the 49ers lost the game, but nobody cared (or at least I didn’t). Everybody’s thoughts and prayers were on the future of our franchise: Jimmy Garoppolo. After the game, it was revealed that the 49ers feared an ACL injury, but nothing would be confirmed until an MRI the next day. When the results were released, it was utterly tragic: Garoppolo tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee — an ACL injury. That alone will keep Jimmy G out for the rest of the season, leaving him only to nurse and rehab his knee.

Funny, huh? The moment where 49ers fans like my friends and I get our hopes up, thinking that the 49ers will come back reinvented, stronger than ever, and reach the Super Bowl this season, lightning comes crashing and strikes down the centerpiece of this 49er comeback. Well, at least there’s next season, right?