He already had played them to the NFC Championship, that game wasn't lost by Smith. Then he was leading the team to a great record when he went out with an injury. That is when Kaepernick came in and held the job. The was not a sudden leap to being competitive when Smith left, they were already there and already challenging for the Super Bowl.

It could be argued that once Smith left and was no longer in Kaepernick's ear that Colin began his downward spiral.

Smith is no world beater among QBs but the hyperbole on CB to knock him down is lame.