With his performance Monday night, Colin Kaepernick made a convincing argument for unseating Alex Smith as the 49ers' starting quarterback.… Extra Point:

And here is where it gets tricky. After the game, Harbaugh said: "I usually tend to go with the guy who has the hot hand. We got two quarterbacks who have a hot hand." This is usually code for we'll stick with our starter because he's gotten us here, he's proven, and he deserves it... but if Smith doesn't start for any reason this week, he will have a very hard time holding on to his job and perhaps more importantly the locker room. Smith has already endured the boos and lack of faith from the 49ers fans, he can do that again... but he has always had the locker room. When you have guys like Vernon Davis drawing comparisons between Kaepernick and Brady, or talking about his handcuffs being taken off (though the tight ends were clearly a much bigger part of the game plan this week), or Kyle Williams talking about Kaepernick being a "baller" who only knows how to "go"; you realize that any stagnation by Smith will lose the support of his teammates. What I suspect will happen is Smith will start this week and have a typical good performance, very efficient, move the ball, score some points. Win or lose, it won't be enough for him to lose his job... and barring injury, it won't be until next season that Kaepernick claims the starting reigns... and that too is dependent on the 49ers not winning the NFC Championship with Smith.