Colin Kaepernick, Offensive Line Put 49ers Back in Heat of NFC West Race

The San Francisco 49ers were supposed to be falling apart.

They came into the season trying to catch up to the Seattle Seahawks and struggling to hold off the upstart Arizona Cardinals. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his banged-up offensive line followed up a miserable preseason with a 1-2 regular-season start, dropping their division opener against the Cardinals in Week 3.

Following an emotional Week 5 win over former quarterback Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs, the 49ers had a classic trap game in Week 6. They went on the road to face the St. Louis Rams on Monday Night Football, with many of the 1999 Rams in the house and throwback uniforms in full effect.

If the 49ers had fallen into the trap, they'd have dropped to 3-3, third place in the NFC West, with an 0-2 division record (a key tiebreaker) and a diminishing chance of making it into the postseason.

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Instead, the 49ers delivered a signature performance against the talented Rams defensive line, winning 31-17, and Kaepernick had one of the best games of his career (22-of-36 passing for 343 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, with three rushes for 37 yards on the ground).

Now, the 49ers are right back in the mix—above the Seahawks, below the Cardinals—and positioned well to get back on top of what might again be the toughest division in football.

Slow Out of the Gate

The problems began in the preseason, with injuries and guard Alex Boone's holdout contributing to awful first-team performances. Kaepernick continued to struggle in the face of interior pressure allowed by new center Daniel Kilgore, slumping veteran guard Mike Iupati and struggling reserve right tackle Jonathan Martin.

In Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles, the return of right tackle Anthony Davis was supposed to be a stabilizing force. Instead, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the 49ers turned in their worst pass-blocking grade of the year, a minus-6.6. Coming into the Rams game, PFF graded the 49ers 22nd in the NFL in pass protection.

With all of the uncertainty in front of him, Kaepernick is on pace for a career-worst season in touchdown rate, interception rate, average yards per attempt, NFL passer efficiency rating and sack rate, per Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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Against Robert Quinn and the St. Louis defense, Kaepernick wasn't sacked once. In fact, Joe Staley dominated Quinn, and Kaepernick did a wonderful job of setting his feet, climbing the pocket and seeing the field.

As a result, he had one of his best days as a pro.

Hitting His Stride

Kaepernick's numbers against the Rams were excellent. He completed 61.1 percent of his 36 attempts and gained an average of 9.53 yards per attempt.

Even those figures don't do justice to the big plays Kaepernick was able to bury St. Louis under. Most spectacular of all was the 80-yard wide-open touchdown strike he hit receiver Brandon Lloyd on with just seconds left before halftime:

On a day when tailbacks Frank Gore and Carlos Hyde couldn't run the ball for anything—they averaged a miserable 1.9 yards on a combined 27 carries—Kaepernick was one yard short of being the 49ers' leading rusher on the evening.

He didn't win the game with his feet, though. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said it best in his postgame press conference: "He had some pinpoint throws, he had throws where he laid it in there perfectly. He was really on his game today."

Kaepernick had that magical quality he has when he's at his best, able to make throws nobody else in the NFL can—on the move, across his body, nonsensical angles, effortless flicks and pinpoint accuracy.

Without any help at all from the running game, the 49ers still outscored the Rams 21-3 in the second half, salting the game away.

Down the Homestretch

This win is huge for the 49ers' postseason prospects. At 4-2, they're a half-game behind the 4-1 Cardinals and a half-game ahead of the 3-2 Seahawks.

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They'll get a bye week to recover from a tough Week 7 matchup in Denver, and then they host the Rams in a quick rematch. They'll then play three winnable games (at New Orleans, at New York Giants, vs. Washington) before, crucially, facing off with the Seahawks twice in three weeks.

If this is the new normal for the 49ers' pass protection, Kaepernick is going to be very difficult for any of those defenses to contain.

For all the talent the Rams defense has, though—and between Quinn and rookie tackle Aaron Donald, it's a lot—it came into the game dead last in the NFL in sack rate, per Pro-Football-Reference.com, at just 0.9 percent. This performance likely had more to do with the Rams' failings than the 49ers' strengths.

Worse, the Rams offense came out and smacked the vaunted 49ers defense in the mouth.

The blown coverage that led to the 80-yard Lloyd touchdown cut a 14-3 Rams lead to a four-point game just before going into the locker room. The script flipped on QB Austin Davis and the Rams in the second half. 

San Francisco faces Russell Wilson twice, Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer (if he's healthy) in the last five weeks of the season. Dontae Johnson pick-sixed Davis on the final meaningful drive—but put Wilson, Rivers or Palmer in that same situation, and the outcome might have been different.

Whether they get key defenders such as nose tackle Glenn Dorsey or inside linebacker NaVorro Bowman back from injury, the 49ers can't keep forcing Kaepernick to be at his very best to salvage wins.