San Francisco 49ers: How Alex Smith Missed Out on a Golden Opportunity

January 15, 2011   ·   TERRY TRAVIS   ·   Jump to comments

Alex Smith dropped the ball.
No, this is not a reference to one of his twenty-eight fumbles over the past six years as the Niners' signal caller. Instead, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft seemed to botch a chance at potentially being a centerpiece at what has already become one of the highly anticipated story lines of the 2011 season: the beginning of the Jim Harbaugh era in San Francisco.
Smith has struggled over the past five years in San Francisco, compiling a QB rating of 72.1 with a completion percentage of 57 percent, slightly below the league average. Is he completely to blame, however?
Over his five years in the Bay area, Smith played under two head coaches (Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary), six offensive coordinators, and eleven different understudies at the starting job, which seemed to always pose a threat to Smith's starting job due to his inconsistency.
His comments towards his team, which has been overly patient with hi...

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