National Football League

Chiefs' Alex Smith left a piece of his heart in San Francisco -- and an impression, too

Published Oct. 3, 2014 4:41 p.m. ET

foxsports

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Everybody won. OK? The Kansas City Chiefs needed a quarterback who wouldn't turtle up at the first (or fourth) sign of trouble; a smart, cool head who could exploit Jamaal Charles' prodigious gifts and keep the train chugging forward. The San Francisco 49ers needed Alex Smith gone, because they'd done that two-NFL-starting-caliber-quarterbacks-under-one-umbrella bit before, when Joe Montana and Steve Young drew a giant red line through the middle of a rabid fan base, a line that still stands.

Alex Smith became a Chief for the cost of two second-round draft picks, which the Niners then flipped into five selections, including one in 2015. While the jury remains largely out on the four prospects currently in the fold for Niners general manager Trent Baalke, No. 11 made the Chiefs -- 2-14 in 2012, the fall before his arrival -- relevant immediately. Baalke got Smith off the books, and his counterpart in Kansas City, John Dorsey, got the honeymoon off to a rocking start. Anchor Steams all around.

"I think he'll be received well (this weekend)," Frank Mecca says. Mecca is a friend and associate of Smith's family, having worked with Alex -- and Alex's mother, Pam -- through his role as executive director of the Sacramento-based County Welfare Directors Association of California. "I think a lot of San Francisco 49ers fans understand that Alex had extremely challenging circumstances with so many different coaches and so many different systems and a supporting cast that took a while to be assembled."

Smith's new club, the 2-2 Chiefs, visits his old club, the 2-2 Niners, Sunday at Levi's Stadium in what figures to be a pivotal, telling matchup for both camps. And among the many subplots in play -- Has Niners coach Jim Harbaugh really lost the locker room? How healthy is Vernon Davis? -- there's a sliver of revisionist history that maybe, just maybe, Harbaugh and Baalke cast their respective lots with the wrong guy.

Since the start of the 2013 season, Smith has racked up a cumulative plus-7.0 grade from ProFootballFocus.com, while his Chiefs teams are 13-7 overall when he starts, 0-1 in the playoffs (although Smith was brilliant in that soul-crushing, 45-44 loss at Indianapolis earlier this year). Kaepernick's numbers over that same span are better, but only slightly: a plus-7.9 PFF grade, a 16-7 record in his starts, 2-1 in the postseason.

No planet does "what have you done for me lately" quite like Planet Goodell, and No. 11 has had the hotter hand as of late. Over his past three games, Smith has completed 69.9 percent of his throws with six touchdowns and no picks. Kaepernick: 66.3 percent, four scores and four picks. While the Niners continue to play out like a soap opera -- Ray McDonald's domestic violence case and Aldon Smith's forays into the dark side don't help -- the Chiefs are finding their feet. They ran over Miami in South Florida, a site where the franchise has traditionally struggled, in Week 3 and followed that up with the most dominant Monday-night victory in franchise history, mauling New England at a raucous Arrowhead Stadium by a count of 41-14.

"I'm trying to get a win. I could care less about the stats and out-dueling anybody," Smith told reporters earlier this week. "And I guess the thing that I'm talking about is, I know that this is going to be a story and I have to deal with it, yeah, and going back there and playing against some of those guys that I played with. But there's a lot of unknowns, too: It's a different place, different stadium, a lot of new faces there as well in some respects. It's different."

Smith and Kap are still friends and admit to texting each other now and again. But this week, for the most part, it's radio silence. They've been here before: The Chiefs hosted the Niners in an August 2013 preseason game -- a 15-13 San Francisco win -- where a lot of the pleasantries got in and got the hell over with. Comments from one party about the other this week have been complimentary, politically correct and noticeably brief. The wheels are turning, on both sides, but nobody wants to lay those cards on the table for us to see.

"No bitterness at all," Smith told Bay Area reporters. "It's so far removed, I feel like a lot has happened since then."

A lot happened before, too. Smith's 49ers chapter is part of his lore, with more bloodletting and knife-twists than a season of "Game of Thrones." He was the No. 1 overall pick in 2005; took steps forward under offensive coordinator Norv Turner, a renowned quarterback guru, in Year 2; but had to start all over again when Turner left to become head coach of the Chargers. From 2005-08, the Niners went 21-43; Smith had thrown 19 touchdowns and 31 interceptions during that stretch. He went through seven offensive coordinators, benchings, boos and doubts. A retooled offensive line and weapons such as Davis and Frank Gore finally stabilized his support system, and when Harbaugh showed up, the ship took off -- Smith piloted San Francisco to the first of three straight NFC Championship Games.

In 2012, after the Niners got off to 6-2-1 start, he suffered a concussion and got Wally Pipped. Kaepernick took the keys and took San Francisco to the Super Bowl, where Smith was asked to cheer, support and generally hold the clipboard. He put on the best face -- the best team face -- he could, but inside, inside, it was chewing him up.

"I would think, and I would certainly hope that he'll be warmly received for what he contributed to the team and the area," says Mecca, who met Smith as a rookie nearly 10 years ago. "And for the class and for the integrity with which he conducted himself."

A San Diego native, Smith still has strong ties to the West Coast, where his Alex Smith Foundation is based. The foundation, whose mission is to help foster youth through education, housing, mentoring, internships, jobs and advocacy, reportedly raised $839,244 from 2008-10, according to a Boston Globe report, with 91 percent of its proceeds going back into the charity -- one of the most generous ratios of return for any foundation started by an athlete in North America.

"A lot of athletes have a foundation and a golf tournament," says Mecca, who has had Smith accompany him on at least two occasions to lobby for support and funding for foster youth in California. "But Alex Smith and his mom work on it, his sister and his father have worked on it. ... This was an active organization, not a PR (spin) and a golf event. He really believed in it and he still does, I'm sure."

Flip through our photo album of Chiefs cheerleaders.

When you pour your heart out in San Francisco, you can't help but leave a little piece of it there, too. Now. Always.

Still, business is business.

"You focus in on what you do," Chiefs coach Andy Reid -- who had to deal with a visit to his old stomping grounds in Philadelphia last fall -- told reporters earlier this week. "All the distractions, going home and all that, it doesn't mean anything. You're there to play the game and once you've said, 'Hi,' to your buddies, it's over. You're playing the game, that's what you're doing. You've got to prepare and you've got to go through all the steps here on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. That's what it is; everything else is kind of fluff. Everybody talks about it, but that's not what's real. The real is, you get in the grind and get yourself ready to play a game."

Smith: "You have to eliminate the clutter and distractions, but at the same time, you embrace it. This next week, yeah, I'll embrace being back there and accept it. Certainly, we're not in denial about it. You know what it is and you take it on. In the end, you know it's going to come down to the final minutes of football."

And maybe, just maybe, the final word.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.