Here we sit, the 49ers 1.5 games up on Seattle, a recent pounding of the Bears in their rear-view mirror, and an apparent first round bye if they keep up the strong play. The offense is clicking along, the defense has been getting tons of pressure (Aldon Smith leads the league with 14 sacks), and the special teams (minus a couple fake punts) has been getting better. All these great feelings however have taken a back seat to a seemingly self-made quandary which has the airwaves burning, and the bloggosphere absolutely incendiary. The quandary of course is the instant QB controversy that sprung up out of the concussion to Alex Smith in the Ram game, and the subsequent dismantling of the supposedly impregnable Chicago defense by Colin Kaepernick.
The stupid thing to me is this could have been averted by Jim Harbaugh. All he had to say was Smith is getting one more day off to make sure he’s good to go down the stretch. Cappy gets the NO start, and things go back to normal. But Harbaugh seems to be the one holding the gas can at this point. He has baited the fans by calling them drooling idiots who don’t care if they win or lose, called the press liars, and left it to his starting SS Donte Whitner to say Cappy was starting. Which Harbaugh then denied. Alex Smith’s status is still unclear at this point, although it seems that he’s good to go. That his health even matters is up for debate. Cappy played a great game, but it was one game. OK, 1.6 if you include the 2.5 quarters of the Ram game. Even still, based on that, you usually don’t make a quarterback switch based on a handful of quarters.
The point being, there was a whole shitload of unneeded thrash around the team this week. Now if this was Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, I’d certainly understand the impetus to get one’s team in the news by any means. But for all intents and purposes, this is the buttoned-down San Francisco Forty Niners. The classy team finding its way back to relevancy and the top of the football pyramid. Not a grandstanding hottdogging look-at-us kind of team. Harbaugh is really alienating everyone who is a fan of the team, and has made a chilly press relationship even more cold with his recent statements. For no other reason than apparently to leave the Saints in the dark regarding who starts.
So, I don’t get it. I also don’t expect the Saints to be pushovers as some think, due to their poorly ranked defense. They show a bunch of different looks, disguise blitzes, and have been playing better in recent weeks, and are always tough at home. Besides, the Niners are the agents of a lot of their recent problems. The Niners beat the Saints in the playoffs last year in one of the best games in NFL history, Gregg Williams was fired for his singling up on VD in crunch time in the playoffs, Williams was then suspended indefinitely for statements he made (knowingly taped) prior to that playoff game, and the whole Bounty-gate deal.
So, there’s certainly enough on NO’s plate to want to knock the Niners off. Who knows? Maybe this is Harbaugh’s way of getting the pressure off the players. Then again, what do I know. I’m a drooling idiot.
Forty Niners Forever 
Smart choice to throw it away instead of trying to make a miracle play.
WHY kick a FG? OMG!
Time to get somebody else with a calcified mass after this season.
DUMB call by Harbs – you PUNT there and pin them, especially with Akers having a bad year.
yup
Wow. Didn’t like that last sequence at all. Last year you try that, with Akers fuckery this year, no
D is taking over, their O is gassed.
Saints O-line has been beat to shit today. But Brees can still make this a game with one big play.
We need to draft a kicker next year. Akers is done. The kid from Florida (Sturgis) is 5/5 from beyond 50 yds this year for the Gators. I’m sure he’s a favorite of Rob’s.
Lucky they didn’t call PI there.
Run the clock out and let’s get the Fuck out of here.
they called less all day
Lombardi: “Run it and let’s get the hell out of here”
vs Dallas I believe
Phil, you were quiet and we missed you bro.
Score again and put a stamp on it for the playoffs
almost
Coming back.
TD gore!! Pound em!
Oops, holding. Dammit
So much for the Saints’ revenge game.
no doubt
Think I’ll pop over to the Jets blogs again and ask them how they like their two QBs.
Maybe not. The whining and crying gets pretty old.
LOLOL
Twin should be a Jets fan, he would fit right in.
Alex looks pretty pissed off on the sidelines. I bet he doesn’t answer the next call to caddy.
funny but was it necessary?
The change, yes. The way it was done, no. But then again, we really don’t know how it was handled man to man.
true
I’d run it on 4th down. Don’t take a chance on a block here. Make them start inside their 15, needing two scores.
Umm. What did I say?
it’s done
Lucky we got lucky bounce and no runback there, Jimbo.
they still need 2 scores to tie
Yeah, but it would have been ONE if they’d run that back for TD. We should never have run that risk.
Number77 just jinked our guy in the head. Karma, butch!
butch?
I hate iPhones.. If I wasn’t at a Niner party, I’d have a keyboard.
Head, And bitch. This fucking phone, damn
I feel you bro, I use a phone and a pad most of the time, I just thought Butch was funny.
Some of you just don’t get it. The fact that Colin has played well so far doesn’t make the decision right.He definitely makes throws that Alex can’t- but without a lot of good fortune he has 3 turnovers today. The proof, it appears, will be in the playoff pudding. It will be tough to blow the division.Everyone outside of the blogs agrees that the move was made because Kap will supposedly take them further- he’ll get a chance to show it. There ain’t no “nice try, Kap” for a one and out..
Nice game, though.,
You cry like a bitter old woman.
well I have to say the king is dead, long live the king.
Actually, you in particular, and this board in general, have been a little too happy to crown a King after two fucking games. Deny all you want, but Colin does need put up a better record than Smith before the coronation.
bullshit, he played better than Alex, period, that’s all that needs to be said.