He won his first career playoff game by two touchdowns, scored two himself, threw for two more and led his team to the NFC Championship Game this coming Sunday. Colin Kaepernick is our NFL Player of the Week.
Kaepernick threw for more yards than former Super Bowl and NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers in the San Francisco 49ers 45-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers, but that was the least of his accomplishments. The San Fran quarterback ran for the most yards a QB has ever racked up in an NFL game (181), which was 62 more yards than his own team's runningback in seven fewer rushes. (Frank Gore had 119 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries.) He hit seven different receivers with passes over the course of the game, including his two throwing scores to Michael Crabtree.
The former Nevada Wolf Pack QB led his collegiate team to two bowl victories before being chosen in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He started the 2012 NFL season as a backup for Alex Smith, but the first-stringer got injured during a game on November 11. Kaepernick came in and went 11-for-17 in passing attempts after a rough start, managing 66 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown to boot in a 24-24 tie with the St. Louis Rams.
After recovering from his concussion, Smith was kept on the bench in favor of the flashier Kaepernick. Since he took over, the team is 5-2-1, plus last weekend's record-setting performance that led to the Niners' win. He had a career-high 276 passing yards in the last week of the regular season, a 27-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals, which clinched the number two seed for San Francisco.
In the NFC Championship on Sunday, Kaepernick and the 49ers will face the Atlanta Falcons, who previously had one of the most prolific rushing QB's in the league's history, Michael Vick. Of the top five single-game rushing totals for a quarterback, Vick has three, including 173 (the previous record) in a game in 2002.
In addition to a pat on the back from Latinos Post, Kaepernick was put on the cover of the newest issue of Sports Illustrated.