Does anyone still believe that we will win the SB this season?

Originally posted by InHarbsWeTrust:
I don't get it. Its as if our offense was consistent with Smith. As if Giants,seahawks and vikings performances did not exist. The offense was not great with Smith either. We put up 40 points in New England for Pete's sakes.

Having a good completion percentage against crap teams means nothing. We need to stop romanticizing how great the offense was with Alex. It was very up and down.

Totally agree. The offence is inconsistent full stop. The playcalling is inconsistent and sometimes quite bizarre (pitch to Ginn vs Rams for example). The receiver routes need some work in the offseason as they are too predictable and alittle lacking in producing dynamic plays.

What I find is strange is that rather than let Kaep develop there are now people advocating returning to Alex Smith at QB. I have always been supportative of Alex and never a hater but Kaep has such a higher upside than Alex at this point in time and in the offseason its time to trade Alex and move forward with Kaep. The 49ers and Kaep are in the playoffs and its time to 'let it roll. let it roll' and see what happens.

It's a wide open field this year.

In the NFC no team is a favorite. Atlanta, Green Bay, Us, Seattle, and the Giants (if they get in) are all about even
In the AFC Denver and New England are the favorites with Houston close behind.

We had a better chance with Alex Smith this season. Kaep's our future, he's stronger, faster more athletic and just maybe a tiny bit better than Smith right now but not by much. For every 50 yard run, 60 yard pass there is a dumb rookie type mistake that's a game changer. Our chances of going to the Superbowl have now lessened since Smith was benched. The irony is that Kaep's biggest failings are in his command of the offense and being a GAME MANAGER which Smith thrived. Going with Kaep in the middle of the season will be Harbaugh's biggest mistake since coming to San Francisco. Add the fact that Justin Smith's availability is in question and I don't know if we can even win a wild card game.

Originally posted by British9er:

Originally posted by InHarbsWeTrust:
I don't get it. Its as if our offense was consistent with Smith. As if Giants,seahawks and vikings performances did not exist. The offense was not great with Smith either. We put up 40 points in New England for Pete's sakes.

Having a good completion percentage against crap teams means nothing. We need to stop romanticizing how great the offense was with Alex. It was very up and down.

Totally agree. The offence is inconsistent full stop. The playcalling is inconsistent and sometimes quite bizarre (pitch to Ginn vs Rams for example). The receiver routes need some work in the offseason as they are too predictable and alittle lacking in producing dynamic plays.

What I find is strange is that rather than let Kaep develop there are now people advocating returning to Alex Smith at QB. I have always been supportative of Alex and never a hater but Kaep has such a higher upside than Alex at this point in time and in the offseason its time to trade Alex and move forward with Kaep. The 49ers and Kaep are in the playoffs and its time to 'let it roll. let it roll' and see what happens.

I don't get how some people want to hold Alex Smith to a totally different standard! Eli Manning is an elite QB, what was his performance like during that championship game? Everyone was all bent out of shape because AS didn't put up 300 yd passing games, yet now that their preferred QB is in there it's quite ok to hit the check down. You guys call out our team loyalty because we have the gumption to show LOYALTY to a niner and don't let personal infatuations rule the day. Get behind everyone on the team not everyone but the QB who you say is just a game manager. How many games since he's been out could we have used some solid managing in? And to think that things won't get more difficult in the playoffs is simply foolish! CK might be the 2nd coming of Randall Cunningham or he may be another flash in the pan but I just feel our SB run hit an impasse after that saints game. Hey but now it's ok for the QB to press the issue and throw into double coverage because he doesn't have Smith on the back of his jersey. Now it's ok for him to throw that patented 94 mph fastball to the WR on the flats even if it's 3 feet over his head. Heck it's even ok for him to hold the ball too long and finally hit the RB or TE on the quick out even though the LB has had time to diagnose the play and react(forcing a fumble with Delanie in NE). I think some of you guys would be ok with CK throwing for 500 yds each game yet losing simply so you can say "well he sure can throw the ball better than AS".

I always expect the worst and hope for the best. As long as we're in the pleayoffs, we have a chance.

Originally posted by British9er:

Originally posted by InHarbsWeTrust:

I don't get it. Its as if our offense was consistent with Smith. As if Giants,seahawks and vikings performances did not exist. The offense was not great with Smith either. We put up 40 points in New England for Pete's sakes.

Having a good completion percentage against crap teams means nothing. We need to stop romanticizing how great the offense was with Alex. It was very up and down.

Totally agree. The offence is inconsistent full stop. The playcalling is inconsistent and sometimes quite bizarre (pitch to Ginn vs Rams for example). The receiver routes need some work in the offseason as they are too predictable and alittle lacking in producing dynamic plays.

What I find is strange is that rather than let Kaep develop there are now people advocating returning to Alex Smith at QB. I have always been supportative of Alex and never a hater but Kaep has such a higher upside than Alex at this point in time and in the offseason its time to trade Alex and move forward with Kaep. The 49ers and Kaep are in the playoffs and its time to 'let it roll. let it roll' and see what happens.

Couldn't have said it better. I've always been an Alex fan too but I always realized that he is what he is and will never be an elite scoring QB. Kaepernick might not eer become the passer that Brady is but I think if he can learn the game from the pocket he could be very close to what Aaron Rodgers is for Green Bay. He has a long way to go but I could see it. Only time will tell. I think the kid deserves a chance. Alex had 8 years.

We are just as good as anybody out there and better then most. Of course we a great chance to go all the way this year. Especially so if the matchups go our way. Clearly we want to avoid the Seahawks at home and Lambeu as well if we can. Also we will need to break this two wins and a loss pattern...but we are not just in this, we are a top contender. If we can maintain a consistent effort on both sides of the ball the rest of the way...nobody is as well balaned and well rounded as our guys.

Originally posted by nflguy49:

Originally posted by matthewabbit:

Originally posted by sfninerfanMax:

Originally posted by nflguy49:
Harbaugh is no dummy. After Alex fell flat on his face in the NFC Championship (and wasted a killer effort from our defense) Harbaugh tried to get a new starting qb on the first day of free agency (and later lied about it). When that didn't work he felt that Kap was probably a year away so he brought Alex back for one season.The Niners defense and special teams are not at the same level as they were last yr and it became clear against good opponents that a game manager at qb would not be enough (see the Vikes and Giants games where we got our asses kicked) Alex got hurt and Kaepernick proved he was ready now so Harbaugh pulled the trigger and benched Alex a few months early. end of story,

good analysis

Agree, just don't know how this years play by Alex didn't sway Jim to hold off. Alex had many fine traits and had the whole locker rooms support (as he was elected catain by his peers). The injuries are pulling up with kap and the team dosnt seem to be playing as tight with him. Maybe Jim and roman were taking it personally when Alex would audible out of their stupid predictable plays . Fact of the matter is consistent minimal turnover ball control play is NEEdeD for our D to perform at a hi level with minimal substitutions. Period. It wasn't always pretty but I would take last years team style back in a heartbeat. Can't say what our identity is now. Whereas with Alex it was quite clear, remember he was here with our core group of talented players long before harbaugh .

Alex stats were inflated by gimme games against the Bills and Jets. Also, Harbaugh is smart enough to realize that qb rating doesn't take into account passes that were completed on 3rd downs but killed drives because they were far short of the first down. Alex was king of the two yard completion on 3rd and long.

I could make a similar argument about Kaep: he's had two great games (Bears, Pats), one decent game (Saints) and the rest are all mediocre (Rams x2, Dolphins and Seahawks).

Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
I could make a similar argument about Kaep: he's had two great games (Bears, Pats), one decent game (Saints) and the rest are all mediocre (Rams x2, Dolphins and Seahawks).

I agree, but it is more than that. Smith has shown that he can handle the pressure of a playoff run. Harbaugh took a bit risk in going with Kaep knowing full well that this team was on a Superbowl run considering that it got to the NFC Championship game last year. Putting a second year player in at QB with zero experience was/is ballsy. I've said this repeatedly that I hope it works out but so far I'm less than confident in that.

Originally posted by TheRatMan13:
Couldn't have said it better. I've always been an Alex fan too but I always realized that he is what he is and will never be an elite scoring QB. Kaepernick might not eer become the passer that Brady is but I think if he can learn the game from the pocket he could be very close to what Aaron Rodgers is for Green Bay. He has a long way to go but I could see it. Only time will tell. I think the kid deserves a chance. Alex had 8 years.

To be fair shouldn't Kaep have to learn a new offense for his 1st 6-7 years? What's the travesty with everyone wanting an "elite scoring QB"? Give me a total elite football team over 1 individual any day of the week. Are the coaches trying to fit the QB to the system or fit the system to the QB lately? Before the great QB switch over one could compare our team to the Spurs of the 2000s, in that they were boring with a staunch defense and fundamental offense. Try throwing Mike D'antoni into that Spurs team and you ruin the whole dynamic that they were built upon. Unfortunately for some unGodly reason Harbaugh decided he wanted flash over substance. I don't care for Pete Carrol but at least the guy had the stones to make this move in the preseason...if Harb thought so highly of Kaep and Kaep was tearing it up why not make the move then? Shoot, it's been since the Chicago game since I yelled "Whooooo's got it better than us?" to my wife and kids hearing them say "nooooobody". I'm pulling for Kaep to get it together because the team trumps the player every time, but if he struggles I hope Harbaugh can muster the intestinal fortitude to give AS another shot.

Truth is, this team has been wildly inconsistent all season. I don't see how they can put together 3-4 good games and make super bowl run. Injuries are starting to hurt as well. James has been good but they really miss Hunter (more than people think)

i stopped believing when we made the qb change.

We were a better team last year and more consistent. I think we'll be lucky to make it to the nfc championship let alone win the superbowl

Originally posted by Irish40Niner:

Originally posted by cciowa:
ONE GAME? I do not mean to be mean but come on man.. we sucked vs the rams, we sucked in two quarters vs the dolphins and played only two good quarters vs the pats, we lack the consistency other teams have right now. i also think justin is done for the year and the coaches are just dreading the day they have to announce that to the world.

We have been inconsistent all season (other than the W W L pattern), it didn't just start with the changing of the qbs. Come on now....

i know that bud,, i did not point to the quarterback,i was just looking at the last month of games for us. i believe how you play right now is very very important. we did not play well in the last two quarters vs the pats and well we know what happened sunday. I have no issue with ck being the quarterback other than the timing of the decision. If my post sounded like I was blaming the qb for our up and down play,, I am sorry cuz i did not intend that

Originally posted by PhillyNiner:
We are just as good as anybody out there and better then most. Of course we a great chance to go all the way this year. Especially so if the matchups go our way. Clearly we want to avoid the Seahawks at home and Lambeu as well if we can. Also we will need to break this two wins and a loss pattern...but we are not just in this, we are a top contender. If we can maintain a consistent effort on both sides of the ball the rest of the way...nobody is as well balaned and well rounded as our guys.

we have not been able to put four good quarters of ball together forever. we are not as good or at least we are not playing at the level or the consistency of a team like seattle or the packers now. that is NOT what you want to see at this crucial time of the year. i take issue with your comment about maintaining a consistent effort on both sides of the ball... you have to START something like that before you MAINTAIN it