San Francisco QB Colin Kaepernick ran wild against the Packers as the 49ers advanced to the NFC title game. (Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports)
It’s still difficult to fathom what NFL fans witnessed Saturday night in San Francisco.
The controversy swirled for most of the second half of the season after San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh decided to stick with quarterback Colin Kaepernick when Alex Smith regained his health following a concussion suffered against the Rams on Nov. 11.
Still, it was almost laughable to hear breathless analysts claim before Saturday’s game that how Kaepernick played would determine whether Harbaugh had made the right decision.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Certainly, Harbaugh couldn’t have expected Kaepernick to play the way he did against the Packers. However, he obviously went with Kaepernick for the long term. That’s why they selected him in the second round of the draft. Anything he did this year was a bonus.
And that bonus paid off big-time as Kaepernick riddled Green Bay with 181 yards rushing as the 49ers advanced to the NFC Championship Game with a 45-31 win.
Now, as Bill Parcells would often say about very young players, “Let’s not put them in the Hall of Fame yet.” And Kaepernick will have to eventually show he can pass consistently with accuracy. The running lanes he had against Green Bay won’t always be there when he begins facing teams that have seen him before.
Keep in mind, for the season, he rushed for 415 yards, so his output Saturday was 43.6 percent of his season total. But he sure was almost magical to watch.
Packers general manager Ted Thompson told Yahoo! Sports, “That was unbelievable. He did everything. I mean, I had read the press clippings and seen some of the highlights. But to watch what he did … oh my, that was special.”
Packers safety Charles Woodson added, “We didn’t anticipate the quarterback running the way he did. I guess that was the X-factor.”
It sure was, although the Packers being shut down in the second half was also a huge factor. The 49ers led 24-21 at halftime and Green Bay managed just three points in the second half before their final, meaningless touchdown. On three second-half possessions, the Packers ran 17 plays for just 56 yards, and before they could blink, the 49ers led, 45-24.
The three drives San Francisco had for touchdowns in the second half totaled 266 yards on 22 plays.
Said Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers of Kaepernick, “He was running all over the field. He’s big, strong, athletic, throws the ball well and runs the ball extremely well. We didn’t really have a whole lot of answers for him.”
Of course, a large part of that was because the 49ers’ offensive line dominated the Packers, and the defense is helpless when they aren’t sure if Kaepernick is running, or if Frank Gore is running, or if Kaepernick is throwing to Michael Crabtree and Co. Gore rushed for 119 yards on 23 attempts.
When Kaeperkick was asked if he was “just feeling it,” he said, “I mean, it’s a lot easier when other people are making plays. Our offensive line came out, they dominated up front, so that makes it easier on a quarterback.”
He was matter-of-fact when asked about setting a quarterback rushing record for any game.
“It’s a great accolade,” he said. “I think it means a lot to this team. Our offensive line did an amazing job, our receivers, tight ends and running backs did amazing jobs. They opened up a lot of lanes for me.”
Linebacker Patrick Willis spoke about how tough it can be for a defense. Asked about how difficult it is to play against a quarterback like Kaepernick, Willis said, “Put me in a tough one when you ask me about my own teammate. From what we see in practice and from what we see in the game, obviously you see a quarterback run the way that he runs. That’s unbelievable. And to see him in practice, you never really see him open up like that in practice. You see them do the offense what they do and whatnot. But, to see him do it in a game, it amazes me. It wows me. And I’m just saying wow, did he just do that?
“And credit goes to that whole offense to have a guy like Frank who people have to account for. And then Kap’s doing what he’s doing. And before you know it, hopefully they don’t know which one to go for. And both of them are running wild, which they did today.”
Most impressive is Kaepernick’s speed and acceleration. Unlike many quarterbacks that run, he seems to hardly take hard hits. He sure didn’t Saturday night. In fact, of his 16 runs, he was only tackled six times. On six, he went out of bounds or was pushed out, he scored two touchdowns untouched and two were kneeldowns at the end of the game.
How fast is he? Said Willis, “He’s fast. It’s just one thing when you see a guy get behind a guy and they try to run and the guy already has a step on him. But, to see a guy come across the field at an angle and he eats up the angle, to us that’s fast. That guy’s moving. And like I said, it’s great to have him doing what he’s doing. And not only is his speed remarkable, just to see how he’s throwing the ball.
“Seeing how he’s getting behind other guys, that’s amazing, too. My hat goes off to that offense, that side of the ball. Like I said, today when our defense was struggling they kept us in there in that second half. We knew if we came back out and we played to the level that they were playing and even higher, then the game would be ours. And that was the outcome.”
Concluded 49ers safety Donte Whitner, “Everybody that was second guessing the decision to move from Alex [Smith] to him, I don’t think they’ll be questioning it anymore. He’s that new style quarterback in the National Football League that can run the read option, that can pull the ball down run it and take it the distance from anywhere on the football field, extremely strong armed, accurate. He’s our quarterback, he’s our leader and he did a great job out there today.”
The Quotebook
Kaepernick rebounded from a first-possession interception that was returned for a touchdown. So it was that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who was an NFL quarterback, was asked how he responded after an interception when he was playing. Said Harbaugh, “I don’t know. I hate to be short. I hate to be rude, but what the heck does that have to do with this game?”
Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis on his team’s remarkable win over Denver: “When you look back at it and be able to recap and let the emotions calm down, it will probably be one of the greatest victories in Ravens history. It’s partly because of the way everything was stacked up against us coming in. I challenged my team this week to not listen to anything outside of our building, to buy into who we are as a team. Now, for us to be here, as I said, I think this will go down as one of the greatest victories in Ravens history.”
Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings, who is scheduled to be a free agent March 12, on his future: “It has been great. I love this organization. The reality is that there will probably be some changes made. Hopefully I stay here. If not I am ready to move wherever. It is what it is, I am not naïve to that. I am being a realist. I love this organization I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. If I have to that is what I have to do.”
