![Colin Kaepernick was as efficient as he's ever been on Dec. 9 at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers' quarterback completed 18-of-23 passes without an interception in beating the Miami Dolphins 27-13. It was a workmanlike performance by Kaepernick. He picked the Dolphins apart for 185 passing yards and added 53 more on the ground on six carries. It was the perfect grind-it-out victory for the 49ers in their December push to the postseason. Kaepernick, though, did make the play of the game to put away the Dolphins. He executed an amazing fake to running back Frank Gore, kept the ball himself and scampered into the end zone 50 yards later for a 27-13 lead with 2:10 to go. "Everybody came to me and Mr. Everything did his thing," Gore said of Kaepernick after the game. Kaepernick, making just his fourth career start, kept his cool in the game despite having to absorb four sacks from the Dolphins defense.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/hash/86/59/865913d4398455ccd04d70c08768a538.jpg?itok=mgHWlSpT "Colin Kaepernick was as efficient as he's ever been on Dec. 9 at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers' quarterback completed 18-of-23 passes without an interception in beating the Miami Dolphins 27-13. It was a workmanlike performance by Kaepernick. He picked the Dolphins apart for 185 passing yards and added 53 more on the ground on six carries. It was the perfect grind-it-out victory for the 49ers in their December push to the postseason. Kaepernick, though, did make the play of the game to put away the Dolphins. He executed an amazing fake to running back Frank Gore, kept the ball himself and scampered into the end zone 50 yards later for a 27-13 lead with 2:10 to go. "Everybody came to me and Mr. Everything did his thing," Gore said of Kaepernick after the game. Kaepernick, making just his fourth career start, kept his cool in the game despite having to absorb four sacks from the Dolphins defense."){kind=small}
Colin Kaepernick introduced us to Kaepernicking, joined Joe Montana and Steve Young as quarterbacks to lead the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl and threatened to change the way we look at the quarterback position from now on.
The former Nevada Wolf Pack quarterback took over for Alex Smith in late November, and just like he did to Nick Graziano at Nevada in 2007, he never gave the job back.
The 49ers made Kaepernick a second round pick in 2011 but not even the 49ers could envision the talented but raw quarterback leading them to a Super Bowl in just his 10th career start less than two years later.
Kaepernick passed for 1,814 yards and 10 touchdowns as well as running for 415 yards and five touchdowns in just seven regular season starts and then turned the NFL upside down in three postseason games.
Along the way he beat Jay Cutler, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers and set a rushing record for NFL quarterbacks. And by the end of the year bakeries were making cookies and cupcakes in his image and youngsters were asking their parents for bible verse tattoos.
A look at Kaepernick's five best performances in his breakout NFL season . . .
![Colin Kaepernick was as efficient as he's ever been on Dec. 9 at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers' quarterback completed 18-of-23 passes without an interception in beating the Miami Dolphins 27-13. It was a workmanlike performance by Kaepernick. He picked the Dolphins apart for 185 passing yards and added 53 more on the ground on six carries. It was the perfect grind-it-out victory for the 49ers in their December push to the postseason. Kaepernick, though, did make the play of the game to put away the Dolphins. He executed an amazing fake to running back Frank Gore, kept the ball himself and scampered into the end zone 50 yards later for a 27-13 lead with 2:10 to go. "Everybody came to me and Mr. Everything did his thing," Gore said of Kaepernick after the game. Kaepernick, making just his fourth career start, kept his cool in the game despite having to absorb four sacks from the Dolphins defense.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/profile_large/hash/b7/b5/b7b5ccb1bf530e09b087a2dc6bbb2025.jpg?itok=wIbhmUSs "Colin Kaepernick was as efficient as he's ever been on Dec. 9 at Candlestick Park. The San Francisco 49ers' quarterback completed 18-of-23 passes without an interception in beating the Miami Dolphins 27-13. It was a workmanlike performance by Kaepernick. He picked the Dolphins apart for 185 passing yards and added 53 more on the ground on six carries. It was the perfect grind-it-out victory for the 49ers in their December push to the postseason. Kaepernick, though, did make the play of the game to put away the Dolphins. He executed an amazing fake to running back Frank Gore, kept the ball himself and scampered into the end zone 50 yards later for a 27-13 lead with 2:10 to go. "Everybody came to me and Mr. Everything did his thing," Gore said of Kaepernick after the game. Kaepernick, making just his fourth career start, kept his cool in the game despite having to absorb four sacks from the Dolphins defense.")
