SAN FRANCISCO — Patrick Willis had seen Colin Kaepernick flash his magic in practice countless times, but even that couldn’t prepare the 49ers’ All-Pro linebacker for what he witnessed Saturday night.
Willis could only marvel along with the rest of a slack-jawed NFL as Kaepernick made the Packers look silly with both his arms and his legs in a 45-31 divisional playoff rout that sent San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game this weekend in Atlanta.
One of the conference title games features a road favorite for the first time in at least 30 years thanks in large part to Kaepernick, who used his freakish combination of size and versatility against Green Bay to put together arguably the best all-around game by a quarterback the sport has seen in the modern era.
While Kaepernick was setting a new single-game record for a quarterback with 181 rushing yards, throwing for 263 more and accounting for four touchdowns (two rushing and two passing), Willis could only shake his head in amazement on the San Francisco sideline.
“That’s unbelievable,” Willis said after the Niners rode Kaepernick’s shoulders to nearly 600 total yards against what had been one of the NFL’s top-rated defenses. “You never really see him open up like that in practice. To see him do it in a game, it amazes me. It wows me.”
Willis wasn’t the only one amazed by the 6-foot-5, 233-pound Kaepernick’s grand coming-out party in primetime in his first NFL playoff start.
The Packers, in particular, looked like they had never even seen the read option before, even though Kaepernick had started the final seven regular-season games in place of Alex Smith.
Then again, seeing it on film versus trying to stop Kaepernick in person appear to be two entirely different things judging by the way — with considerable help from one of the best offensive lines in football — he made Green Bay in general and star linebacker Clay Matthews in particular look like they were running with cement cleats.
Kaepernick’s entire game last Saturday was a marvel, but one play in particular already seems destined to be his defining moment — and no doubt a frightening warning to NFL defensive coordinators for years to come.
Just three plays after Aaron Rodgers and the Packers had overcome Kaepernick’s hot start and clawed back to tie the game 24-24, Kaepernick kept around right end and sprinted 56 yards down the sideline for a highlight-reel touchdown that put San Francisco in front to stay.
What made the play so incredible was the sight of Kaepernick toying with Green Bay cornerbacks and safeties as he kicked it into overdive at around the 20-yard line and pulled away for the score.
“It’s one thing to see a guy beating someone when he already has a step on them, but to see a [defender] comer across the field at an angle and [Kaepernick] still eats up that angle — that’s amazing,” Willis said. “His speed is remarkable.”
Former 49ers quarterback Steve Young, who knew a thing or two about mobility, said last week the success of Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and to a lesser extent Kaepernick signaled to him an “age of Camelot” for option quarterbacks in the league.
One game doesn’t make a career, of course, but it’s easier now than it was even last week to think that Kaepernick might have the edge on all of his more highly touted, option-running counterparts.
Newton is bigger (250 pounds) and Wilson has an equally huge arm, but neither has the same blazing, breakaway speed as Kaepernick. And Kaepernick’s size and smarts when running in the open field should allow him to stay a lot healthier than the already injury-prone RG3.
“It’s an asset that he has, a talent,” Niners coach Jim Harbaugh said of Kaepernick’s uncanny speed yesterday as his team prepared to take on the former division-rival Falcons at the Georgia Domeon Sunday. “And he’s been able to use that in a number of ways.”
Anyone who thinks Kaepernick is just a gimmick running an offense that NFL defenses will eventually catch up to apparently wasn’t watching during the season.
Kaepernick was much more of a pocket passer during his first seven starts, and the Niners only added a lot more option plays to the gameplan last Saturday after watching how the Packers struggled to contain it the week before when the Vikings had Joe Webb use that approach on a handful of plays early.
“That’s the misperception a lot of people have about Colin, that he’s just a runner or just an option guy,” San Francisco offensive tackle Joe Staley said. “That’s just not the case. The guy can do it all, and I’m sure glad he’s on my team. He’s going to be fun to play on the same side with for a long time.”