Against Atlanta Colin Kaepernick Must Play the Game of His Life

As big of a win Colin Kaepernick had against Green Bay last Saturday, the game coming up will be bigger. That’s because it is not just any game, it’s the NFC Championship game. The winner of that game goes to the Super Bowl and the only team standing in the way of Kaepernick and the 49ers going to the Super Bowl is the Atlanta Falcons.  Kaepernick had a great game against Green Bay but he will need to play even better against Atlanta. He will need to play the game of his life.

            You can argue that the Super Bowl would be the game of Kaepernick’s life and in ways you would be right. However, from a 49ers perspective, the NFC Championship game has always been the biggest hurdle for the 49ers when winning a Super Bowl. The 49ers have appeared in 14 NFC Championship games but have only won five of them. However, once the 49ers reach the Super Bowl they are undefeated. They have never lost a Super Bowl they appeared in.  

            There is something about playing on the biggest stage that the 49ers thrive on historically and I don’t see that changing in this Super Bowl if they manage to get there. They already prove that they can beat the New England Patriots during the regular season. New England also doesn’t have a good defense so Kaepernick would run circles around them. While the Baltimore Ravens would prove to be a bigger challenge for the 49ers offense since Baltimore has a good defense, I believe the 49ers defense is better. Plus Baltimore is not known for huge offensive numbers so the 49ers defense would keep them from scoring much. It would come down to the 49ers putting up points against a good defense and Kaepernick has shown he can beat a good defense. Just ask the Chicago Bears.

            The game against Atlanta also should be the most important for Kaepernick because it will be a test to whether he can bring the 49ers to the next level.  Alex Smith brought the 49ers to the NFC Championship game last year but faltered in that game against the New York Giants. The reason for Head Coach Jim Harbaugh choosing to start Kaepernick over Smith this postseason is because he feels Kaepernick can take the 49ers further than Smith can.  This game will be a test to whether Harbaugh made the right decision.  If Kaepernick can take the 49ers farther than Smith did, all of the debate about who should be the starting quarterback will be put to rest no matter what happens in the Super Bowl.

            So how exactly can Kaepernick play better against Atlanta than he did against Green Bay? Considering that he set NFL records against Green Bay that game will be hard to beat in terms of success. For starters, Kaepernick will need to throw more touchdown passes than he did against Green Bay. As much as I like the running touchdowns that Kaepernick scores, I think Atlanta is going to prepare for his rushing ability. They will expect Kaepernick to run and may take away the lanes that Green Bay gave him. So Kaepernick will have to throw more than he did last game to offset the lack of rushing touchdowns. If Atlanta tries to stop Kaepernick’s runs, they will most likely be leaving players open for Kaepernick to pass to. So he should be able to make deep throws to his wide receivers.  He will need to throw for over 300 yards in passing.  He will need to throw three to four touchdown passes.  Most importantly, he needs to spread the ball around when he throws it. Michael Crabtree has been Kaepernick’s main target but he needs to try and get some passes to Randy Moss. Everyone will expect Crabtree to get passes so he might be double teamed. This should leave receivers like Moss and Vernon Davis open for passes as well as Delanie Walker.

            Overall, if Kaepernick can throw the ball more this upcoming week, it should open up the run game for Kaepernick as well as Frank Gore.  This will need to be done for Kaepernick to win the game of his life.