Kaepernick’s no Young or Montana

Reading Time: 2 minutes With the weight of the world on his shoulder, Kaepernick couldn’t stay perfect for San Francisco

Reading Time: 2 minutes
Paul was wrong, yet again, and San Francisco fans all over Utah Valley were also wrong. But it wasn’t their fault, now was it the fault of the San Francisco faithful in New Orleans. The power outage didn’t even dampen San Francisco’s chances at another Super Bowl victory. It wasn’t even the fault of the ever-glorified quarterback for the Niners, Colin Kaepernick. I dare blame the quarterbacks of San Fran past. With Steve Young and Joe Montana breathing down the neck of Kaepernick, expecting nothing less than perfection, it was no surprise that the 1st year starting quarterback couldn’t punch the ticket to Disney World. Instead, Kaepernick is now getting ready for next season, as he will start again from square one.

Kaepernick said Tuesday, just two days after the defeat against the Ravens, that he’ll be training in Atlanta within a week, and the quarterback will be bringing some of his receivers along with him. All of it is part of Kaepernick’s quick evolution from backup to starter that will continue as he enters training camp as the unquestioned franchise star.

With Young having a Super Bowl ring and Montana having four of his own with the Niners, the expectations were high for this young quarterback. Despite the loss, Kaepernick still had a decent game, but it was a little too late after a second-half power outage slowed down the Ravens mojo for 35 minutes and allowed the Niners to capitalize. Not very often do you see a quarterback have a 91.7 passer rating with over 300 yards in a game and still get the loss. But that’s exactly what happened. The Ravens showed that they wanted it more when the tears were flooding their side of the field during the National Anthem. Kaepernick couldn’t recover from an early interception that led to a 21-6 deficit into the half. But despite the slow start, Kaepernick did have a strong finish to the game, bringing the Niners all the way back from that deficit to be within five by the end of the third quarter.

During an interview with ESPN’s own Young, the franchise quarterback was told by Young himself that “you are allowed to lose a conference championship game, but you are not allowed to lose the Super Bowl.”

What could have been a perfect 6-0 record for the Niners in the Super Bowl turned into an imperfect 5-1, something Montana and Young were not expecting. San Francisco was the four-point favorite going into Sunday but ended up being on the opposite end of that, losing by only three points to Baltimore.

Although Kaepernick lost the game with only one passing touchdown to show for it, the rising franchise star made a lasting impressing in the Bay area. Although he didn’t maintain perfection for the Niners, he did prove to all that he’ll be back in the Super Bowl, and it might even be sooner than later. Just don’t put that kind of pressure on him.

Alex Rivera is the Sports Editor for the UVU Review. You can contact him at [email protected] or through his Twitter account @HashtagginAlex