How it happened and how it won't happen again

Last night was terrible. Yes it was a great game, yes it was a great season, yes we exceeded expectations, but we are all greedy human-being who want to salvage in the euphoria that is an NFC title. So it still was heartbreaking, no matter what we previously had achieved. Before I dive into this, I'd like to quickly state that I believe Kyle Williams is a really solid football player who could play an important role for us in years to come. Having said that, I place 100% of the blame on him. That's right, not Alex Smith, Greg Roman, Michael Crabtree or anyone else. Allow me to explain.

The reason we made it this far as a team, the reason we reached the NFC championship game, came as a result of turnover-free football. 49er football, for 2011, meant not making mistakes, while forcing other teams into making mistakes of their own. While you can't depend creating turnovers every game, 49er football does come with the expectation that players will execute games with perfect fundamentals. Kyle Williams did not do that whatsoever. Aside from the two fumbles which DID cost us the game, he made a myriad of additional mistakes. He fumbled a reverse in the first quarter which not only could have been a disastrous turnover, but also killed the momentum of the drive. He dove for a punt which he could have easily muffed. He called a fair catch on a punt that he had 15 yards of running room for. He had 0 catches. The dude played the worst game of his life at the absolute worst time.

So what about the other guys? Why isn't Alex Smith and his sup 50% passing and 1 for whatever on 3rd down to blame for the loss. Well, the truth is, Alex Smith played exactly as we expected/asked for him to do the whole year. He led a few good drives, made smart decisions and DID NOT turn the ball over. That's what he did for the first 16 games of the season and that's why we went 13-3. What we saw from Alex against the Saints shows what Alex could be, not what he is right now. Sure he only put up 17 points this game, but then again, every other game that we scored more than that, the defense created turnovers for the offense, so it really was nothing out of the ordinary. He did his role on the team and had it not been for those special teams turnovers, we'd be in the superbowl.

Now moving forward, how can the niners get this far again? Surely we will have more turnovers next year and a more injured team as a whole. And there's always a chance the defense could slip a little bit and not be as special as they were this season. The biggest change has to be the improvement of Alex Smith. You can absolutely win a superbowl playing the sort of football the niners play. However, you can also win a superbowl with an elite QB who covers up many of a teams flaws, pending the other units step in the clutch. The truth is there is no guarantee you can play perfect football like the niners played this year, for year-to-year basis. Balls just bounce the wrong way at times. However, when you have a team that has as strong of fundamentals as the niners, you can definitely expect to be among the top teams in defense, special teams and turnover margin. That said, the expected drawbacks the niners will likely face MUST be blanketed by superior quarterback play by Alex Smith if the niners hope to make it this far again. He doesn't need to be elite, but he does need to get better. He needs to develop a pump fake. He needs to look receivers off. He needs to create more in-game consistency. But we have seen this year that he is not only capable of being a great quarterback at times, but also that he has proven he, at age 27, is still improving as an NFL quarterback. To reiterate an earlier point, you can win superbowls without having an elite quarterback. The success of Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Eli Manning in recent years have made people forget that they were not top 5 QBs when they won their first superbowls. Manning and Roethlisberger didn't even make the pro-bowl til after their first rings and Brady didn't even have a QB rating as high as Smith's 2011 season until he won his third superbowl ring. Having said of of this, I must conclude by saying as bitter as this loss it, this is not the end.

I believe in the future. I believe in Kyle Williams, Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree. I believe in the 49ers.