Colin Kaepernick and his San Francisco 49ers will begin their 2013-14 NFL season at home with the visiting Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rogers looking to make a statement early in the season.
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Via ESPN:
Kaepernick's playoff debut for the ages propelled the 49ers to their sixth Super Bowl appearance, but he'll be a marked man as his first season as a starter begins Sunday against a visiting Packers team ready for revenge.
Alex Smith led San Francisco to a 6-2 start in 2012 that included a 30-22 Week 1 win at Lambeau, with the 49ers running for 186 yards -- 17 on Kaepernick's only carry -- to set the tone for a team that would finish with the NFL's fourth-best rushing offense.
But San Francisco's transformation from a defense-first team with a caretaker quarterback to a dynamic, Super Bowl contender didn't take place until Kaepernick took over under center following Smith's Week 10 concussion. The 49ers averaged 26.3 points in Kaepernick's seven regular-season starts -- up from 23.6 in Smith's first eight -- before finding out the entirety of what their 2011 second-round pick could bring in the postseason.
Kaepernick passed for 263 yards and ran for an NFL quarterback-record 181 yards while accounting for four total touchdowns in the 49ers' 45-31 divisional dismantling of Green Bay. San Francisco piled up a franchise postseason-record 579 total yards.
"When the quarterback can run like that, that opens up the arsenal of play-calling," defensive lineman B.J. Raji told the Packers' official website after the loss. "Obviously if you can't stop the run, that's football 101."
Kaepernick averaged 10.6 yards per rush in three postseason games and 9.98 yards per pass attempt, nearly leading the 49ers back from a 22-point third-quarter deficit before they fell 34-31 to Baltimore in Super Bowl XLVII.
