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Chiefs need to make switch to Patrick Mahomes to resurrect season

Denny Medley / USA TODAY Sports

Alex Smith needs to lose his starting job partway through a season for the second time in his career.

The Kansas City Chiefs, once safely atop the AFC as the NFL's last undefeated team at 5-0, need to follow the mold of the 2012 San Francisco 49ers and remove Smith as the starter, in place of a younger, more dynamic option under center.

The 49ers started the 2012 season 6-2 with Smith under center. When he suffered an injury early in a Week 10 game against the St. Louis Rams, they were forced to turn to sophomore Colin Kaepernick, a second-round pick the year prior.

Kaepernick led his team to a tie against the Rams, and then started the final seven games of the regular season, going 5-2 and keeping hold of the job upon Smith's return to health. He'd take the 49ers to the Super Bowl, and Smith would be traded to the Chiefs in the offseason.

Smith had appeared to change his persona to start the 2017 season. The well-known "game manager" - with a career completion percentage of 62.3 and yards per attempt of 6.88 - opened the season with a 368-yard, four-touchdown road performance against the Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots. He maintains a career-best 8.34 yards per attempt, but it's been trending in the wrong direction.

An embarrassing Week 11 loss to the previously 1-8 New York Giants, in the week following their bye, showed the Chiefs have accomplished all they can with Smith at the controls. The disastrous performance caps their current 1-4 stretch, dropping them to a record of 6-4 - though still in control of the underperforming AFC West.

As with the 49ers in 2012, the Chiefs have an otherwise strong team. Rookie running back Kareem Hunt entered Week 11 with the second-most rushing yards in the league at 800. And tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill ranked 12th and 15th, respectively, in receiving yards.

While Smith has been a large contributor to those statistical rankings, he has recently reverted to the player he always was. A safe option, capable of leading teams to quality records, but without the game-changing abilities needed to make a team a true contender.

He's relied heavily on his top three pass-catchers to make plays after the catch. Hunt, Hill, and Kelce rank 10th, T-13, and T-16, respectively, in yards after the catch.

As with the 49ers five years earlier, the Chiefs have their quarterback of the future waiting in the wings. They shipped first- and third-round picks in 2017, and a first-round pick in 2018 to the Buffalo Bills to move up from the 27th pick to the 10th, and selected Mahomes as the second quarterback in the draft.

Mahomes impressed in the preseason, completing 63 percent of 54 pass attempts over four games, throwing four touchdowns and no interceptions. He averaged 7.2 yards per attempt.

Now with 10 games of tutelage under Smith, Mahomes is the superior choice to lead the high-profile aerial attack head coach Andy Reid was trying to implement at the start of the season.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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