The year Alex Smith led the San Francisco 49ers to the NFC title game his team ranked 3rd in defense and 3rd in rushing offense. This is not complicated. There are 10+ years of sample of him leading good teams to wins. This is what it takes.
But the ABC crowd chose to buy the outlier season over the totality of his career
Where exactly do we get one of those QB's that don't need a respected run game and has a defense that gives up at minimum, 1 more point than you're able to score?