Until a couple of weeks ago I could hardly be bothered with the NFL. The 49ers were playing well, but Orange October baseball had upstaged them and temporarily reversed the general preference for football in the hearts and minds of fans and media schedulers, at least in San Francisco. Once the Giants disbanded to their offseason routines, the 49ers leaped to fill the news void by staging one of the oldest spectacles guaranteed to generate fan interest: a quarterback controversy.
For those of you who may have missed it, the starting quarterback of the 49ers, Alex Smith, got knocked in the head three weeks ago while attempting to rush for a first down against the Rams. Concussion symptoms quickly ensued, and his back-up, Colin Kaepernick, replaced him in the game and salvaged a tie. The next week the doctors held Smith back, and Kaepernick played a dominant game against the Chicago Bears, who had expected the 49ers to rely as usual on the running game and stacked their safeties and linebackers accordingly, leaving deeper pass routes open for Kaepernick to exploit. Smith was cleared to play following that game, but Coach Jim Harbaugh elected to start Kaepernick against the New Orleans Saints and again he delivered a win, with the help of two interceptions returned for touchdowns by the 49ers’ defense. Then, as if to erase all doubt as to the permanence of the change, Harbaugh called both Smith and Kaepernick into his office this week to inform them that Kaepernick would continue to start for the 49ers for the foreseeable future. Smith accepted the news with as much grace as might be expected, admitting his unhappiness to the press at being benched but also acknowledging Harbaugh’s prerogative in making the decision.
If nothing else, this course of events reveals Harbaugh’s genuine views of Smith’s capabilities. While he has respected Smith’s character, resilience, and general competence, ultimately he does not believe that Smith will develop into a quarterback capable of dominating games, and he is willing to risk the cohesion of his locker room on his belief that Kaepernick can provide the final ingredient needed to bring a sixth Super Bowl trophy to San Francisco. As much adversity as Smith has faced in his career, enduring years of fan abuse and coaching that bordered on criminally incompetent, this may be the bitterest pill he has ever had to swallow. Despite winning twenty games since the beginning of last season, he has been judged publically to be not good enough by a coach whose ability to evaluate talent is beyond question. Not just once, but twice—this also puts to rest any doubt that Harbaugh was serious in pursuing Peyton Manning before the season and would gladly have signed him if they could have reached an agreement. I feel for Smith in this situation, but he knows as well as anyone the capriciousness of professional sports, and he can comfort himself in the knowledge that even the most honored player in 49er history, Joe Montana, once suffered a similar fate.
So now Kaepernick holds the keys to the 49er offense and shows no intimidation at the prospect. I wish him luck, and I will mention here that he comes from Turlock, CA, which is also my birthplace by virtue of it being the location of the closest hospital to my parents, and his nickname is the “Turlock Tornado.” Kaepernick may well be the real deal; I recall seeing him play against Boise State a couple of years ago, when he almost singlehandedly denied the Broncos a chance to play for a national championship. Unfortunately I have no social connections to him whatsoever and thereby no prospects for obtaining free tickets, but I still plan to root for him. There’s nothing happier than a true hometown boy making good.
