What to Expect from San Francisco 49ers' Running Game in 2013-2014

The 49ers also have a running game.

People tend to forget that now that there's some guy named Colin Kaepernick running the offense. But you can believe Jim Harbaugh won't forget.

Power. Speed. Elusiveness. The three-headed monster in the Niners' backfield will be back to devastate defenses once again, and there may be no answer if Greg Roman ever decides to flip the switch to full throttle.    

It's been the summer of Kaepernicking in San Francisco, and we get that. This is the first time in 16 years 49ers fans have a quarterback to be excited about, so it's easy to be myopic. Sure, the Yahoo commercials, Jaguar endorsements and GQ covers get old after a while—but as long as that's not Bubba Paris jiggling his arms, the impulse is to be flexible.                 

Quarterbacks get all the glory, anyway. The cameras find them wherever they are on the field, and it's amazing how they get credit for every circus catch made by their far more athletic receivers.

Who cares?  It doesn't change the dynamic of the offense, and it won't stop the 49ers from beating teams senseless during the regular season.    

But while Kaepernick is the new face of the offense, Frank Gore remains its engine—its renewable lithium charge. 

Running the football was one of the few things the Niners could do effectively during the dark years of Mike Singletary and Mike Nolan. But their ground attack became futile when teams figured out all they had to do was hit Gore hard after every snap. Injuries started to mount, and San Francisco's implacable Hummer started to look more like a battered Land Rover.  

Then the 49ers hired Jim Harbaugh, who taught Alex Smith how to throw a football. The offense no longer functioned like a video game CPU set on "rookie," and Gore began to torment defenses once again. He also had a feisty new tag-team partner named Kendall Hunter and the added rest between snaps allowed him to stay fresh in the fourth quarter. 

When Kaepernick took over as the starter in the middle of last season, the running game warped into "All Madden" mode. Faced with a quarterback who could throw the ball past 15 yards, defenses were forced to actually cover the receivers and the 49ers offensive line subsequently bludgeoned and pummeled the poor doofuses crouching in front of them. 

The addition of the option play with Kaepernick and LaMichael James also created an extra dimension that became a nightmare for defensive coordinators. Solving the 49ers offense was suddenly more complicated than quantum physics, and unless someone like Peter Higgs becomes interested in American football, there may never be a definitive solution. 

So, things are looking up for the ground game this season, right?

Let's run down the list. 

One All-Pro veteran running back?

Check. 

A strong No. 2 back that's taller than an Ewok?

Double check. 

A mobile quarterback that can outrun a defense while jogging?

Two of them actually.  

An offensive line made up of Comic Con supervillains?

Bully. 

So yeah, the 49ers will probably do well running the ball this year. That's not to say they won't have their share of problems. With Crabtree out for the first half of the season, San Francisco has a gaping hole in their receiving corps that defenses will attempt to exploit.

How bad is the situation? It's never good when you hear rumors about the tight end moving to wideout and Austin Collie actually being considered as a starter. 

But when you hear Joe Buck asking Randy Moss during a preseason telecast if he's interested in playing for the 49ers again, you know you've fallen on hard times. 

The Niners still have a lethal combination with Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis, so Kaepernick will easily be able to rip open secondaries if he sees more than seven guys crowding the box. But given their shortage at receiver, you have to wonder whether Harbaugh and Roman will flirt with consistently using the option if things get hairy.

Floating this idea around sounds absurd until you consider the success LaMichael James and Colin Kaepernick had in their collegiate careers.

During James' tenure at Oregon, the Ducks offense basically ran one play under Jim Kelly, and it resulted in thousands and thousands of yards. Defenses knew what was coming and stacked as many as 10 guys up front.

The efforts were folly. The Ducks kept moving the ball and scoring touchdowns.  

Skeptics would say this is the NFL and that running the same play over and over again won't yield the same results they do in college. That's fine. But if the 49ers do find a way to score 50 points a game with two of their star receivers on the PUP list, I don't see Harbaugh channeling Norv Turner and making the kind of useless adjustments that will likely earn you a second career as a commentator on ESPN's First Take.   

For years the 49ers have relied on their ground attack to carry their offense. Last year in the playoffs, the only time San Francisco's offense stopped working was when they stopped running the football. Frank Gore rushed for at least 90 yards in every game and everyone remembers the way Colin Kaepernick embarrassed the Packers in the NFC divisional round.

The backfield was an unstoppable juggernaut that came within five yards of winning the Super Bowl. I forgot what happened after that. 

We know how precarious the situation is with the receivers. They're one injury away from calling Terrell Owens to quit his night job at CVS.

Not so with the running backs. At 30 years old, Frank Gore has continued breaking off long runs in the preseason, and the return of Kendall Hunter will give the 49ers added insurance if LaMichael James doesn't pan out.  

The future looks promising with Marcus Lattimore. Heck, in his current condition I'd start him over Anthony Dixon. 

The only real weakness on the 49ers' state-of-the-art offense is their inability to start fast. They fell behind in all three of their playoff games last year and it finally cost them on the biggest stage. But that's what happens when you have four or five different ways to move the ball. It takes time to find a rhythm—kind of like having Steve Young and Joe Montana on the same team. Or Troy Smith and David Carr.   

Wait, never mind that last one. 

Still, it's nice when the 49ers' biggest problem is having too much talent on the field. The last time that happened was in 1994. 

Fun times ahead. 

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