Smith has over-achieved this year (and I’m happy about that), but at AZ we saw the real Alex Smith again. I see him backing up Matt Cassel at some point in his future.

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Or he had a bad night in Arizona because he wasn’t protected.

When most QBs who are generally performing well go out and lay an egg in a game, people just chalk it up to a bad night. Maybe the opposing defense already played the team once this season and came up with a few good ways of confusing the QB. Or maybe the Offensive Line was banged up and couldn’t protect the QB or get a push for the running game.

Not when Alex Smith does it though. He’s just showing his true colors, despite having the best season of his career and having some really great games.

When Aaron Rodgers goes out and throws for only 49% for only 6.7 yards per completion like the Kansas City game we shrug our shoulders and figure it was an off night. Same with Drew Brees when he throws three interceptions against a pretty bad Tampa Bay team. But Alex Smith is apparently held to a different standard.

Alex Smith : 239/389 61.4%, 2,752 yards, 16 tds 5 int

Trent Dilfer: 134/226 59.3% 1502 yards 12 tds 11 int

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I am not going to argue Dilfer vs. Smith but please use context. Trent played 11 games during the regular season.

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And Alex Smith has played 14 games so far this season. You’re saying you can’t compare a QB who throws 11 interceptions over 11 games and a QB who throws 5 interceptions over 14? Seems straightforward to me.

I had no idea that playing three more games made a direct comparison impossible. Maybe if Dilfer had three more games he could have unthrown those six interceptions.

Smith has over-achieved this year (and I’m happy about that), but at AZ we saw the real Alex Smith again. I see him backing up Matt Cassel at some point in his future.

I don’t think we really need to spend much time thinking about the possibilities here when Exhibit A as to what Harbaugh can do with a talented QB will be the #1 pick in the draft next April.

I think they think Kapernick is a player and will be there future. Harbaugh can bring him along just like Luck who he had redshirt as a Freshman. Alex can serve a useful role while he is winning. At some point he stops performing or get Wally Pipped due to injury.

For now, I remember how painful Week 16 was to watch as a 49ers fan last year. This year’s situation (trying to pin down a #2 seed in the playoffs) makes me smile too much to worry about whether Smith is the guy or not. He has been way more than good enough.

First let’s get the preseason out of the way. Through the first 3 games, everyone was worried and gave a slight edge to Kaepernick over Smith. Smith was the guy everyone boo’d at practice and Kaepernick was the uncertain “project” that Harbaugh traded up to get. And don’t forget that Kaepernick (and Tolzien) didn’t even have a normal camp to get into the swing of things.

Then we played the Chargers and Smith looked great, Tolzien looked good, and Kaepernick looked bad. That’s ONE PRESEASON game. Look back…did everyone really think we’d be 11-3 after that preseason? Yet at that time everyone was ready to cut Kaepernick and call him a bust, feel better about Smith, and covet Tolzien. The Chargers still cut Tolzien who wasn’t drafted in the first place and who’s coach at Wisconsin, Paul Chryst, is the brother of Geep Chryst….the 49ers QB coach. And he lands on the 49ers! And everyone is excited.

Now we go into the regular season and Harbaugh is playing with what I would say is the best special teams unit and probably the best defensive unit in the NFL. And suddenly the team starts winning and everyone wants to give the credit to Alex? Huh? Because he isn’t turning the ball over? He’s a 7 year veteran who is now playing in a ball control offense for a coach who calls pass plays that are designed to avoid sacks and go to the first read.

You’re insane if you think that some of the throws Alex has missed this year are acceptable from a championship caliber QB. And you’re also insane if you accept anything less as your long term solution at QB.

Harbaugh is great at coach speak. You really think Alex deserves to be in the probowl over Matt Stafford, Matt Ryan, Eli Manning, or even Cam Newton? He’s playing with the #1 defense and #1 special teams unit in the league! And one of the top RB’s in the league behind him.

Alex isn’t terrible. He’s not garbage. He’s servicable. He’s Trent Dilfer for the Ravens, who if you remember, won the Superbowl and then was let go for Joe Flacco to start.

Tolzien has been on the inactive list all year. I assume that’s for a reason. They aren’t just going to roll with Kaepernick as the only back-up while battling for a first round bye if Tolzien has shown to be better than him in practice.

And Kaepernick has been developing but hasn’t played much. Harbaugh obvisously feels ok with him being the back-up. So that’s a positive sign for a rookie at this point.

At this point you probably resign Alex to a short term deal and you let him battle it out with Kaepernick again in the summer, determine if Tolzien is staying or going, and go from there.

For the Kaepernick fangirls who think that he is going to be the next best thing, Kaepernick was not drafted in the 1st round which means there were lots of questions about him. Especially his ability to read defenses.

I am not going to argue Dilfer vs. Smith but please use context. Trent played 11 games during the regular season.

Just like former QBs Aikman and Young, Harbaugh suffered a lot of concussions in his career.

When drafted in 2005, Nolan was the coach and Mike McCarthy was the OC. McCarthy went to Green Bay in 2006 and had Farve as his QB. In 2008 Rodgers went 6-10 with a QB rating of 93.8. 4 years later with the same head coach and the same OC (Joe Philbin) Rodgers is 13-1 with a QB rating of 120.8.

A head coach who actually knows whats he’s doing makes a world of difference.

Just like the Colts, the 49ers do not have an easy QB decision this offseason. Or maybe you kill 2 birds and trade Alex Smith to the Colts for Peyton Manning?

The only other time that Smith where playing this well was when Norv Turner was the OC in San Francisco.

I’m confident that the best of Smith still is best to come, the best way to max out a QB’s potential is consistency in the coachingstaff

“Good luck OSU.”

Yeah, OSU is going to have to start settling for championships instead of all those pro QB prospects they were churning out.

But what are our options this off-season? Kyle Orton? Jason Campbell? No thanks.

He’s played well enough this year to return and see what he can do in a full off-season under Harbaugh. I hope it’s a “short” long term extension though. I don’t need to see Alex locked up in a 6 year extension or anything like that.