San Francisco 49ers: Alex Smith, One Year Later, Jeers Turn to Cheer vs. Eagles

One year ago, before a nationally televised prime-time game on NBC, Alex Smith was booed by the hometown crowd. On Sunday, he may have finally won them over.

The winless San Francisco 49ers were hosting the Philadelphia Eagles, hoping to finally get out of an early season funk. Instead the 49er imploded thanks to five turnovers, including a crucial fumble by Alex Smith in the 4th quarter that gave the Eagles a 24-10 lead.

On that night, Smith threw a pair of interceptions and had the crucial fumble that eventually dropped the 49ers to an 0-5 start.

For Smith, it was the lowest of lows in his roller coaster NFL career that has seen a season lost to injury, a new offensive coordinator in each of his six seasons, and above all, a 49er crowd that outright booed him on national television, calling for backup quarterback David Carr to replace Smith.

Smith wasn't taken out of the game that night, in fact, he almost lead the 49ers to a come from behind win. At season's end, the 49ers and Alex Smith appeared to have at last parted ways, a mutual agreement between the two parties.

Then Jim Harbaugh entered the picture, and with him, Alex Smith returned.

Almost a year to the day of the infamous Eagles game on NBC, the 49ers this time, were on the road against an Eagles team heavily favored to appear in the Super Bowl.

Down 23-3 in the third quarter, this game had all the making of another 49er loss. Defense couldn't tackle, Vick could do nothing wrong, and Alex Smith and the 49ers could do nothing right.

A missed field goal, another one blocked, and a Smith fumble inside the 49ers 20-yard line should have spelled doom for the 49ers.

If this was a home game, surely the boo birds would have made an appearance and calls for anybody but Alex Smith to play would have been chanted throughout Candlestick Park.

But this was a road game, in Philadelphia, and much like Smith had done to Seattle back in 2006 on the road, Alex brought the 49ers back with a furious comeback that may be one of the biggest wins of his seven year career.

Smith lead the 49ers on two scoring drives in the 3rd quarter, both ending with touchdown passes to pull the 49ers to within six. In the 4th quarters, the 49ers did the improbable, coming back from 20-points down to take a 24-23 lead.

After a Jeremy Maclin fumble, Frank Gore picked up a pair of crucial 1st downs to seal the 24-23 win over the Eagles, and in the process, the 49ers secured their biggest win to date.

For Smith, who one year ago was booed by the home-crowd, the win was redemption. Alex didn't throw a single interception, and had a higher QB rating than Michael Vick (112.1 to 99.5).

The 49ers are now 3-1 on the young season, in sole possession of first place in the NFC West, but more importantly, the win on Sunday is the kind of showcase victory that announces to the rest of the league that this team is legit, and has arrived.

After all the heart breaking loss to Dallas in Week 2, the 49ers struggled but pulled out a tough road victory over the Bengals in Week 3.

It marks the first since since 2006 that the 49ers have won back-to-back road games.