How Far Can Alex Smith Take San Francisco 49ers This Season?

The San Francisco 49ers are 1-1 after the first two games. A big part of this early season success is the play of quarterback Alex Smith.

The question is, how far can he take the team this season?

The answer is in Smith’s on-field performance, and depending on his success, the Niners’ season will shape up.

The former No. 1 overall draft pick has been given another chance to redirect his career, and it seems he'll finally take advantage of it. 

The Good

Alex Smith will play a solid season, which will earn him a new contract with the franchise and the chance to redeem himself in the years to come.

He will lead the Niners to their first winning season since 2002, and the organization's 18th division title.

He will complete more than 65 percent of his passes for the first time in his career and bring back playoff football to San Francisco.

He also will bump up his career quarterback rating of 72.2 to an admirable 80. 

The Bad

That’s fairly easy: Alex Smith will continue to play the way he has been for the last six seasons.

The Dream

Alex Smith will evolve as one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. He will become the player every 49ers fan wants him to be.

He will throw for over 3,000 yards, 25 touchdowns and fewer than 10 interceptions; each of those numbers would be new personal bests.

Smith will be compared to Joe Montana for some heroic fourth-quarter comebacks over the next 15 weeks.

He will take the franchise deep into the playoffs and bring back glory and success to the Red and Gold.

Smith will become a synonym for a new hard-working, no-quitting mentality in San Francisco.

Fathers will tell their sons, and sons will tell their future children about No. 11 Alex Smith who rose like a phoenix from the ashes.

The Nightmare

This might be even more unlikely than the dream point, but Alex Smith could also end up on the streets of San Francisco after six games.

He will fall back into his old habits—not looking downfield and being afraid of mistakes—so the 49ers will be forced to cut ties with him after a Week 6 loss to Detroit.

Why after Week 6? The reason to make this transition after the game against the Detroit Lions is that Week 7 is a bye week.

This gives head coach Jim Harbaugh an additional week of preparing rookie Colin Kaepernick to take over as the team’s starting quarterback, and save, at this point, an already-lost season.

Alex Smith will end up as one of the greatest busts in NFL history.