With the Super Bowl upon us in ten days, I wanted to take a look back on the year that was in the City by the Bay. This was my first year as a season ticket holder and it definitely adds a different element to the proceedings.
The season started off pretty electric. The 49ers had a chip on their shoulder thanks to the way their 2011 season ended; a wholly disappointing effort by the offense and special teams that led to a loss in the NFC Championship Game. They addressed this hard. They ensured their defensive 11 would all be coming back, and bolstered it with some depth. They used their “big gun” moves on offensive talent. They brought in free agents Mario Manningham, Randy Moss and Brandon Jacobs (who ran something like 10 times for a quarter of a yard or something before getting cut). They brought Leonard Davis out of retirement to provide another big man to ram into their big men. Rounds 1 and 2 of the draft were used on a project Wide Receiver in AJ Jenkins and the versatile speedster LaMichael James. There was a ton of buzz entering the season because the Niners were poised to make a run. They addressed their weaknesses, except what some people would say was their greatest weakness in Alex Smith at QB.
The season started off to script for the Faithful, as the Niners started 2-0 with road wins over Green Bay and a blowout of Detroit (before people knew detroit was a dumpster fire). They then fell apart in Minnesota, losing to a team they very well should have beaten. Minnesota exposed a weakness in the 49ers—shut down the run game, shut down the offense. They were able to contain Frank Gore & Kendall Hunter and the 49ers offense shriveled and died. Alex Smith simply did not have the ability to “take over” a game. People again began questioning Alex Smith’s ability to handle that offense. Then they got to take on two of the worst teams in the AFC.
The next two weeks saw the 49ers absolutely dismantle the Bills and Jets, winning by a combined 79-3. People starting calling them the best team in football. Those two games were ridiculous; Jim Harbaugh put the NFL on Madden Rookie Mode. The thing that stood out about those games, later in the season, was the poise and intelligence shown by a little known second-year quarterback by the name of Colin Kaepernick. In the early part of the season, 49ers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman sprinkled in plays here and there where Kaepernick would replace Smith in an effort to run, or threat at the run, to add a wrinkle to the offense. At the end of the Jets game, with the 49ers up 34-0 and very little time remaining, Kaepernick broke free. He had a long run that would have surely ended with the 49ers up 41-0 in an absolute stomping of the Jets.
Kaepernick didn’t score, however; he slid down at the one yard line. When asked about it after the game, he related that he did not want to risk any injuries as the game was already out of hand. In a stretch where the team outscored their opponents by 76 points, the young QB’s poise and presence of mind ended up being the story at the end of the season.
In a pattern this season that only finally broke in the playoffs, the 49ers lost to the Giants after winning two in a row. The 49ers offense stagnated again against the Giants; the second time in two meetings in calendar year 2012. This was an inkblot game for people. Alex Smith supporters said that they were the world champs, and there is no shame in losing to them. Colin Kaepernick supporters, bolstered by his recent success in “one-off” plays as in the Giants game, said it was time for a change. Harbaugh stuck with his man.
Alex Smith rewarded Jim Harbaugh’s decision by leading them to victory over division rivals Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. The latter of these two games earned Alex Smith Offensive Player of the Week Honors as he completed 18 of 19 passes picking apart the Cardinals defense for 232 yards and 3 Touchdowns, with 0 interceptions.
The 49ers had their bye, and Alex Smith likely staved off a larger role for Colin Kaepernick thanks to his performance against the Cardinals. A first quarter concussion in a home game against the St. Louis Rams knocked him out of the game, and it was time for Kaepernick to rise to the occasion. Which he did, sort of. He took over for the injured Alex Smith and lead the team back, snatching a tie from the jaws of defeat. Candlestick was speechless. There is no feeling that can describe the dissatisfaction that comes from driving home without an answer. No win, no loss. Everyone just goes home. Nobody is happy, nobody is sad.
The next week Alex Smith failed his concussion test and the Colin Kaepernick Era was upon us. They were playing the stout defense of the Chicago Bears and the so-so offense. Especially so, since the Chicago Bears were also playing their backup QB, Jason Campbell. This was the Monday Night Football game that week, so a national audience was privy to the Kaepernick outbreak in the Backup Bowl. Kaepernick gashed the Bears defense, passing for 243 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. He added 4 runs for 10 yards, which is pretty unimpressive given what he would do in future games.
San Francisco made their first trip to New Orleans this season and the hoopla was around whether or not Alex Smith had been “Wally Pipped,” a term referring to the outfielder who was injured and lost his job to All-Time Legend Lou Gehrig. Jim Harbaugh decided to stick with the young QB, citing Alex Smith not passing his concussion tests until late in the week. The classic controversy began. Kaepernick did enough to not lose, which is all that was asked of Alex Smith, with a few impressive runs. The defense did all the work with the 49ers running back interceptions for touchdowns on consecutive Drew Brees passes (one at the end of the second half and one with his first pass of the second half).
The Niners travelled to St. Louis to avenge their overtime tie. As with the other 49ers non-wins this season, nothing went right. The Rams did whatever they wanted, with Stephen Jackson destroying their vaunted run defense and Kaepernick looking very much like it was his third start. They continued the Win-Win-Loss/Tie pattern and dropped the game to the Rams (with it almost being a tie again).
Controversy swirled around San Francisco. It was easy to understand sticking with the hot hand in Kaepernick when he won against two of the biggest games of the season for the 49ers. Conventional wisdom would dictate going back to the “Steady Eddie” who had lead them through the first half of the season. If there’s anything about Jim Harbaugh, it’s that he is anything but conventional. He stuck with his guns and the young gun. He continued the pattern, with wins against Miami and a highly impressive road win in Foxboro before dropping a road game to Seattle. The 49ers rounded out the season by winning their last game against the Cardinals at home.
They then sat and watched, as the Minnesota Vikings hit a last-second field goal to seal the 49ers first-round bye and much needed rest. This turned out to be a difference maker in the post-season.
The offense that the 49ers displayed this offseason is unlike anything they ran all year. The Read Option had become a minor part of the offense under Kaepernick, but they used the week off to perfect this. Kaepernick gashed the Packers in every sense of the word. He ran for an NFL QB record on the ground and picked apart the offense through the air with precision, speed and touch. The game was never in doubt in the second half. Nothing better exemplified the stomping of the Packers than the Greg Jennings touchdown late in the fourth quarter that was met with no reaction in the crowd. No cheers, no groans. It wasn’t even close.
The NFC Championship Game, Mr. Kaepernick’s ninth start of his career, showed the measure of the man. The 49ers couldn’t get anything right, and ended up down 17-0 before they got their act together on either offense or defense. Greg Roman, rather than airing it out, stuck with his guns, and fed Frank Gore. The run game got the 49ers back into it. The Read Option rendered the Falcons defense useless as the 49ers used the threat of Colin Kaepernick to lead to a big day on the ground. The defense tightened up against the best WR duo—and the greatest TE of all time—to hold them to 7 points after they went up 17-0. A Frank Gore run on a Read Option play put them ahead for good.
Special Shout Out goes HERE for NaVorro Bowman stopping the Falcons on fourth down in the red zone, saving the game. Yes, he got away with a shove, but they had been shoving all day on both sides. He knew the refs would swallow the whistle, and he was right.
The 49ers currently sit on the precipice of greatness, they are going for their sixth Lombardi Trophy in as many times. A win will tie them with the Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins. Whatever happens on February 3, 2013 at 3:30 PM Pacific (not that I’m counting), it’s been a crazy season.
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