A Farewell Letter to Alex Smith

Dear Alex Smith,

I wanted to write you today to wish you a proper farewell from the San Francisco 49ers organization. Moments after the Super Bowl ends, win or lose, will be the last moments where you don the gear of the five (nah, at that point, let's say six)-time champions.

It's weird for me to say goodbye to you in such a way, especially if you consider the arc of your career from being drafted #1 in the 2005 draft till the end of 2010, where your status with the team was in question following a series of lackluster seasons.

So long Alex. Thanks for the memories.

Granted, you didn't have much help. Year after year, a new coach or coordinator would come in and ruin any chance you had of establishing yourself as a consistent NFL quarterback. It also didn't help you missed a season in between in 2008, a year which most thought was going to be your last in your Niners career.

Somehow, through all of the turmoil and the catcalls for your ousting from the team, being replaced by the likes of Shaun Hill, Troy Smith, and Trent Dilfer, you somehow managed to keep a hold on the starting role entering the 2011 season, the inaugural tour of Jim Harbaugh's reign. It helped that there was going to be an extended lockout that extended into July that kept many teams from making moves outside of the status quo.

With Harbaugh's vote of confidence in his first offeseason as coach, you were the main man, the guy we fans would have to grin and bear another season with while we waited to rebuild and hope 2012 would be a great year with rookie Colin Kaepernick given the starting job to start the near season. Except you didn't play like you did the first six seasons of your career.

You finally broke through, like many QBs that Harbaugh has come across or recruited (Andrew Luck, RG3, now Kaepernick to name a few). With you under center, San Francisco started 2011 with nine wins in your first 10 starts en route to a 13-3 record and a first-round bye in the playoffs. You weren't exactly lighting up the scoreboard (only 17 TDs in 16 games & less than 200 yards/game), but you did everything required of you to win the games. You minimized mistakes, leading the league in interception ratio (only 1.1% of your throws were intercepted). You completed over 61% of your passes, a career-high.

And then there was the NFC Divisional game last year, the finest moment of your career. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for that game when the stadium shook several times in the fourth quarter. Your 28 yard scramble to put us ahead with just over 2 minutes left was not enough. Drew Brees' quick-strike ability required you to lead the Niners down the field again. And that's exactly what you did. Your pass that threaded the needle of the Saints defense to a similarly redeemed Vernon Davis was one that we Niners fans will never forget. Never mind the lackluster NFC Championship game the following week.

Alex: meet your successor.

The 2012 season started out well for you as well, proving to doubters that your 2011 season was no fluke. It helped to finally have a consistent offensive system for a second straight year. However, lurking in the shadows was a man toting a Pistol. A gun-slinger by the name of Colin Kaepernick, drafted in the second round by the Niners' brass. Harbaugh has been on record as saying he thought was the best player in the 2011 draft.

Colin's athletic presence was felt in small chunks, mostly in a role to throw off the opposing defense. But your job was fairly safe. Or so it seemed. Little did you know that reporting a concussion would be your undoing and essentially end your 49ers career. If we look at how your career started, it seems fitting that a play you likely don't even remember happening was likely the last one you played in a Niners uniform.

Kaepernick went on to throttling the Bears in his first career start, making fans and media wonder if Harbaugh would dare Wally Pipp* your career. Harbaugh dared to Pipp you, naming Kapernick the team's starter for the Saints game. He said he was "playing the hot hand", but you knew better. Harbaugh didn't draft Kaepernick to ride the bench for long.

Your strong 2011 campaign was better than Harbaugh could have imagined. There was no way in hell he could legitimately bench you to start 2012, no matter how much he was drooling at the sight of Kaepernick's rocket arm. Your concussion gave him his opening to start the Nevada product. Sadly for you and your starting aspirations, but luckily for Niners fans, the winning just kept on coming.

Now, you will sit on the bench in your final game as a San Francisco 49er. You may not have had the definition of a great career, but the moments you helped create in the past year and a half will never be forgotten. I hope you land with a team next year that will give you the chance to start next year, even if it's with a division foe in the Cardinals.

I hope you're able to get a Super Bowl ring in the meantime.

Sincerely,

49er Nation



*Pipp was the Yankees starting first-baseman who sat out one game due to a terrible headache and lost his job to a guy named Lou Gehrig, who never let go of the job for over 2,000 games.