By Morris Phillips

Alex Smith or Colin Kaepernick?
With the two former teammates pitted against each other for the first time, Sunday’s battle figured to come down to which of the two would best follow the tenets of Coach Jim Harbaugh, who had both quarterbacks under his tutelage in 2012.
Follow the lead of a powerful run game, don’t make mistakes and—whatever you do—don’t turn the ball over.
Both Smith and Kaepernick followed the script to the letter until Smith blinked, throwing a game-clinching interception with less than a minute to go, allowing the 49ers to escape with a 22-17 win. After the game, Harbaugh summed up the battle of quarterbacks.
“Both offenses were moving the ball in the first half,” Harbaugh said. “They had the long drives to score. We also had the touchdown drive, the two field goals. Then in the second half, defenses got a little stingier on both sides. “
And when the defenses proved to be up to task, more often than not, the 49ers and Kaepernick simply made straightforward football plays while the Chiefs and Smith came up short.
With the 49ers looking to take a fourth quarter lead, but stuck with a fourth down play inside their own 30, they went with the short snap out of the punt formation and saw backup safety Craig Dahl pick up a couple of yards to keep the drive going.
And when the Chiefs needed to defend the 49ers’ 54-yard Phil Dawson field goal attempt with 4:19 remaining, they ran 12 players onto the field and incurred a critical penalty that gave the 49ers a first down.
Small plays, incremental differences, but the 49ers and Kaepernick were slightly ahead of the Chiefs and Smith on Sunday. Smith finished 17 of 31 for 175 yards while Kaepernick was 14 of 26 for 201 yards. While Smith deftly got rid of the ball against the 49ers depleted pass rush, Kaepernick was often under pressure and was sacked three times. But with the game on the line, it was the 49ers’ current quarterback that made plays while the disposed Smith did not.
The 49ers got a huge game from Frank Gore, who totaled 107 yards rushing on 18 carries. With his big afternoon, Gore moved past Ottis Anderson for 26th place on the all-time rushing list with 10,332 yards.
On the other side, Jamaal Charles was good as well with 80 yards on 15 carries. But when the Chiefs needed to answer the 49ers’ two fourth quarter field goals, Charles was mostly quiet down the stretch.
The 49ers take to the road next Sunday, facing the injury depleted Rams in St. Louis at 10:00am PST.