Alex Smith was potentially one win away from playing in a Super Bowl, but at a different time, you might not be able to make that case. A special teams gaffe in last year's NFC Championship kept the San Francisco 49ers from playing the New England Patriots in the season's last game. This year, it wasn't a mistake that doomed Smith to relative obscurity; he left a game with a concussion and never got the chance to re-enter the lineup. Although Colin Kaepernick's style couldn't be any more different than Smith's or Tom Brady's, the situation between the Niners and the 2001 New England Patriots is eerily similar.
Tom Brady had a longer trial run in his first chance as a starting quarterback, with Drew Bledsoe taking a Mo Lewis hit to the chest early in September of 2001. Brady was a mainstay in the lineup until the AFC Championship Game, when the Pittsburgh Steelers' Lee Flowers took Brady out of the game. Bledsoe came in and threw a touchdown pass in an eventual Patriots victory, but Brady started (and won) the Super Bowl in New England's first franchise championship.
Alex Smith is a much more mobile quarterback than Drew Bledsoe ever was, and could probably lap Brady in a one lap race. He's still no Colin Kaepernick though, which makes Jim Harbaugh's decision a slightly different one than what Bill Belichick dealt with more than a decade ago. Brady and Bledsoe were quarterbacks made from the same mold, while Smith and Kaepernick are entirely different animals. Harbaugh felt his team needed a jolt offensively. (Ironically you could make the same case about his brother John and the Baltimore Ravens and the firing of offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.)
Smith is a quarterback who has minimized his own mistakes, which is one of the cornerstones of a good playoff performer (or team for that matter). In 2011, Smith threw just five interceptions versus 17 touchdown passes, and had a 13-to-5 RD-to-INT ratio before his concussion in 2012. Smith completed 70.2 percent of his passes before his regular season ended, a pace that Joe Montana kept up for only one season and Steve Young beat with a 70.3 mark once. The current backup of the Niners isn't a hall of famer like the other two, but he's a QB under 30 years old who is clearly trending upward.
Despite riding the bench since the halfway point of the regular season, Smith may have an eventful off-season. FOX Sports is reporting that Smith may ask for his release, forgoing $8.5 million remaining in his contract to pursue opportunities with other teams. Even if he isn't released, the 49ers could trade him to try to get something back for their former starting QB.
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