SI cover just a start for 49ers Kaepernick

SANTA CLARA -- Captain Comeback and Kaptain Bounceback are hitting newsstands and mailboxes this week.

Jim Harbaugh and Colin Kaepernick are featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, albeit in unconventional fashion. The main picture is of Kaepernick running, the ball tucked under his right arm. Just below that arm is a cut-out and taped-on floating head of an agape Harbaugh, who is staring up at his quarterback.

The headline Holy ... is followed by the subhead: Shout it from the mountaintop, Jim — you were dead on about Colin Kaepernick.

It's the first time the 49ers have made the magazine's famous cover since, well, since this time last year. The quartet of center Jonathan Goodwin, quarterback Alex Smith, fullback Bruce Miller and tailback Frank Gore were featured after the 49ers beat the Saints in the playoffs.

There are a few points to be made here.

The first is that the two covers nicely show how much the 49ers have changed in a year. The 2012 cover not only has Smith at quarterback, it has the 49ers in a very traditional backfield formation.

The new cover is of Kaepernick, a most un-traditional NFL quarterback, and the story inside details Harbaugh's risky — and ultimately rewarded — decision to play the young passer over Smith earlier this year.

Another point: The national attention and adulation the 49ers currently are receiving fits a pattern, and it's not a good one for San Francisco.

It seems that whenever the 49ers have won a momentous, prime-time game this season, they've received an avalanche of adoration and have jumped to the top of everyone's power ranking (which, by the way, are about as useful as mock drafts).

And as every true fan knows by now, the 49ers haven't responded well to sweet praise. In fact, they've reacted like someone crashing after a sugar high.

To wit: A convincing prime-time win against the Lions was followed by a flat loss in Minnesota.

In Week 5, San Francisco thrashed Buffalo 45-3, becoming the first team to have more than 300 yards rushing and passing in one game. The next week: a sluggish 26-3 loss to the Giants.

On Monday Night Football, Smith went 18-for-19 in the passing game in a blowout win over the Cardinals. In their next game, the 49ers fell behind early and were lucky to tie the Rams at home.

A big win for Kaepernick on the road against the Saints was followed by his most humbling effort of the season, a loss on the road in St. Louis.

Finally, the 49ers were the toast of the nation after they beat Tom Brady and the Patriots on national television. A week later — also on prime time — they suffered their worst loss of the season to Russell Wilson and the Seahawks.

If the 49ers win Sunday, they will head to their sixth Super Bowl. If they lose, it will be another remarkable feat: a consistent win, win, non-win pattern for 18 games.

"No explanation, but it will be a great time to break it," said Goodwin. "... I think it's a week we have to get up for. Maybe that's something. Maybe we just kind of got in a lull in the regular season after a little success. Can't have that happen now. It's too big of a game and too valuable a moment."

Goodwin is right. The 49ers have had trouble with success.

It's clear they are very good following a loss - they've never dropped consecutive games under Harbaugh — and when they're the underdog. It's playing from a position of power, when the opponent is fueled by their own persecution complex, that the 49ers stumble. And that's the position they're in this week.

The Falcons lost only three games this season, are the NFC's No. 1 seed and are playing at home. Yet not only are they underdogs but they find their opponents on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.

There's also the possibility of the 49ers falling victim to the magazine cover's infamous jinx.

Goodwin said he doesn't believe in the curse. Still, as he was discounting it, he leaned over and rapped his knuckles against his locker a few times.

You know, just to be the safe.

"I don't think so, but ... knock on wood," he said.

Got You Covered

Colin Kaepernick's appearance on this week's cover of Sports Illustrated marks the sixth time that a Stanislaus District athlete has been so honored by the magazine. Here's a refresher on the previous five:

• Nov. 11, 2011: UCLA's Reeves Nelson, a graduate of Modesto Christian High School, is the cover boy as his UCLA Bruins are 15th in the nation by the magazine. Two months later, Nelson is dismissed from the team.

• March 21, 2005: Modesto Christian grad Chuck Hayes, a star at Kentucky, is one of more than 100 faces in a collage on the cover of SI's NCAA Tournament preview issue.

• Dec. 20, 1999: Davis High's Tisha Venturini is part of the U.S. women's soccer team group photo that heralds the squad's selection as Sportswomen of the Year. The women defeated China in the World Cup final in Pasadena on Brandi Chastain's iconic goal.

• April 20, 1987: Beyer High's Eric Bell, a pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles, is one of 45 MLB players on the cover, part of the magazine's look into baseball's range of salaries.

• April 11, 1977: Downey High graduate Joe Rudi, wearing the cap of the California Angels, is featured on the cover. A large story on the impact of baseball free agency — Rudi was a longtime star of the Oakland A's — is the cornerstone of the issue. This was the only other time a Modestan was the lone cover image.