The Future of Football

Anybody who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I like watching the top college match-ups every week. Their high-powered option offenses can't be seen anywhere else. A team getting 600 yards of offense with those types of systems has actually become the norm.

Pro football experts have said for years that option offenses put pro QBs at too much of a risk. I've always argued that football is football and that pocket passers can get hurt by NOT moving. Both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, the best of the best, have missed entire seasons while in the pocket QB roll. Injuries occur wherever you place your QB. Ask Aaron Rodgers, though more mobile than most, he's still primarily a pocket passer who rolls out once in a while to keep defenses honest. As good as HE is, he still gets sacked as much as any QB in the game. And some of those sacks knock the stuffing out of him.

What I witnessed last night in San Francisco was not just a great offensive performance by a really good quarterback. No, what I witnessed was a radical change of pro football's thinking process. Coach Harbaugh has unleashed the option in pro football. We're not talking about flirting with the idea like Denver did with Tim Tebow last year in Denver, or what RG3 did in Washington this season. We're talking about a full-blown frontal assault called the triple option that left Green Bay completely stunned, devastated, and reeling.

Colin Kaepernick has been praised in this blog all season long. He has the rare ability to both throw the ball accurately while running it with power in a such way that makes you think he's also a great running back. And by the time the game was over last night, an entire nation saw why I like the college football offensive mindset.

I've argued for most of this season that I wanted to see Joe Webb used as the Vikings QB. After last week most people thought I was nuts. The problem is that Webb is primarily a great runner who needs an offense that needs to be built from the ground up to feature his mind-boggling physical skills. Putting him in the pocket and expecting him to stay there is the epitome of stupidity.

I'm not suggesting that Webb is as good as Kaepernick. What I'm saying is that Kaepernick wouldn't be as good as HE is if he were the one who always had to stay in the pocket. Harbaugh didn't just unleash his QB last night. He just proved that the NFL way of thinking, the current pro approach, is as antiquated as a car with the crank on the front.

Brady, Manning, and Rodgers may be the great QBs of the present, but I'm guessing that if Kaepernick wins the Super Bowl this year, we'll see more offensive coordinators looking for the next Colon Kaepernick in next year's draft. And just as suddenly, people will finally understand why Tim Tebow was so good in college. Coach Ryan in New York is a dinosaur. His way of thinking will die out before long. The RG3s, the Tim Tebows, and the Colin Kaeperniks are going to transform the pro game.

I'm rooting for a new favorite to win the Super Bowl. Football NEEDS San Francisco to win. The NFL is about to enter a brand new era and Colin Kaepernick is going to lead the charge.

Unless of course he gets hurt on one of those foolish runs of his...