The pressure to live up to one’s home ground is very deep on a player, and no one knows it better than former 49ers quarterback Alex Smith. Perhaps one of the more unfortunate quarterbacks in franchise history, there was a time when he didn’t want to play at home.
“I mean there definitely was a period where I was far more comfortable playing on the road that I looked forward to road games,” Alex Smith said on In Depth with Graham Bensinger. “The pressure of the home game, fans turning on us, that was a lot, for sure. There were certainly times leading up to that, moments of such poor play and product that it for sure justified it, right? Like it was bad, it was bad, bad ball that we were putting out there.”
There’s one game that had shaken Smith the most: San Francisco vs Philadelphia in 2010.
“We were capable as a team, so much better, so much more. This was the same team that the next year went 13 and three. And that we were underachieving and not playing to our potential, I think fans were certainly frustrated.
“Getting booed Sunday night in front of everybody, national TV crowd, and [I] just feel like I’m battling and feel like I’m the guy that’s getting exposed out there, that there were a lot of other things that I’m taking the brunt of, and all of a sudden, I’m dealing with a head coach on a sideline that’s in my face and screaming at on top of fans, chanting for the backup.”
Mike Singletary yelling at Smith’s face on the sideline in 2010 is a visual Niners fans will remember. He was close to benching the quarterback, who, by then, was regarded as one of the league’s biggest busts. Amid all that drama, Candlestick chanted: “We want [David] Carr!”
However, Smith was known for his toughness. He played through shoulder injuries and orchestrated some brilliant last-minute comebacks for the 49ers at home. Even though Smith has bad memories of Candlestick, there are some he can be proud of.
He ran for an incredible touchdown against the New Orleans Saints to take the lead with two minutes left in the 2011 divisional round and an even better touchdown pass to Vernon Davis to retake the lead with less than 10 seconds on the clock. According to The Athletic’s Matt Barrows, the stadium erupted both times.
Alex Smith and the 49ers retooled under new head coach Jim Harbaugh, and led the 49ers to a 13-3 finish the next season. He was in his best form at the time, he told Barrows, and went 6-2 heading into Week 10 in the 2012 season. However, it all came down for Smith later that year after suffering a concussion. Colin Kaepernick took over, and the rest is history.
However, Candlestick eventually warmed up to him. After his last play as a 49er, with his helmet off and walking along the sidelines, the stadium chanted for Alex one last time in farewell.
Smith was welcomed to kinder audiences in Kansas City, where he was traded to in 2013, and in Washington.
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