San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick put the blame squarely on himself for the 49ers’ NFC Championship Game loss in Seattle.
“I didn’t play good enough to win. I turned the ball over three times. I cost us this game,” Kaepernick said.
Kaepernick is right that the three turnovers sealed the 49ers’ fate. San Francisco had three possessions in the fourth quarter, and those three possessions ended with a Kaepernick fumble and two Kaepernick interceptions.
But Kaepernick is wrong to blame himself for the loss as a whole. Kaepernick threw a great pass to Anquan Boldin for a 26-yard touchdown to give the 49ers a 17-10 lead in the third quarter. And Kaepernick was sensational running the ball, with 11 carries for 130 yards -- the second-highest rushing total for a quarterback in NFL postseason history, second only to Kaepernick’s 181-yard game against the Packers last year.
So Kaepernick is being too hard on himself in his own assessment of the game. Which may be a good sign that Kaepernick is a young player who will look for ways to better himself this offseason.