... things this season. In fact, head coach Mike Singletary was so impressed with the progress and development of the team before training camp ever began that he was inspired to cut mini-camp a day short. Highly optimistic reports are prevalent (for once) and most of the pieces seem to be falling into place.

However, there remains one more metamorphosis that needs to occur before the 49ers can hope for any measure of true success in 2010 and beyond.

The near-term fate of the Red and Gold seems inextricably linked to the play of quarterback Alex Smith. Smith has certainly fallen short to this point in his career of living up to the expectations built in to his No. 1 overall draft selection. There has cer...

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