Yes, the 49ers Blew It. No, They Were Not Alone.

Now that Aaron Rodgers has won his first Super Bowl for the Green Bay Packers, you are hearing the completely predictable chatter on sports radio about the decision that the 49ers front office made back in 2005, to take Alex Smith over Rodgers. Clearly, this was a monumental miss.

Let's forget for a moment that Rodgers is who he is today through sitting and watching a legend for three years, and learning and perfecting a consistent system ... while, had he been in San Francisco, he would have been starting from Day One with one of the worst teams in the franchise and league history. (Seriously, Arnaz Battle was the best wideout the team had in 2006. It was not pretty.) I think Rodgers would have done better than Smith - he's more talented and has a better head for the game - but if 49ers fans think the team would be celebrating a Super Bowl win today with just that draft day change, they are kidding themselves.

But let's instead focus on what actually happened in that draft. Smith went #1 overall to the 49ers, this much we know and repeat day after day after day. But Aaron Rodgers fell to the Packers at 24. For sure, some teams in between didn't need a QB, but many of them did. Here are just a few of the teams not named the 49ers that passed on Aaron Rodgers, and the QB they felt comfortable starting the 2006 season with:

PickTeam Who They Liked Instead at QB Who They Drafted Instead2Miami DolphinsDaunte Culpepper, who was later benched for Joey Harrington.Ronnie Brown. Good pick. 3Cleveland BrownsCharlie Frye. Seriously.Braylon Edwards. Meh pick, especially with Frye throwing to him.4Chicago BearsRex GrossmanCedric Benson. Average player - for the Bengals.5Tampa Bay BuccaneersChris SimmsCadillac Williams. Decent pick.6Tennessee TitansKerry CollinsAdam "Pacman" Jones. That didn't work out.7Minnesota VikingsBrad JohnsonTroy Williamson. Whoops.9Washington RedskinsMark Brunell. Seriously.Carlos Rogers, CB.10Detroit LionsJon KitnaMike Williams. Whoops. 14Carolina PanthersJake DelhommeThomas Davis, LB.15Kansas City ChiefsTrent Green, backed up by Damon HuardDerrick Johnson, LB.18Minnesota VikingsBrad Johnson. Yes, they passed on Rodgers twice. Good thing he's in their division now!Erasmus James, DE.19St. Louis RamsMarc BulgerAlex Barron, OL.21Jacksonville JaguarsByron LeftwichMatt Jones, WR. Wow...that's bad.23Oakland RaidersAaron Brooks. This might be the funniest name on this list.Fabian Washington. Sorry, that's the funniest name on this list.

* I didn't include the Arizona Cardinals, who had just drafted Matt Leinart high and didn't know yet how bad that pick was. The same goes for the Houston Texans and David Carr. Also not included: Dallas (Drew Bledsoe), Cincinnati (Carson Palmer), San Diego (Philip Rivers), New Orleans (Drew Brees), Baltimore (Steve McNair).

For what it's worth, Ronnie Brown and Braylon Edwards are the only guys on that list who have been to a Pro Bowl ... and Edwards is already out of Cleveland and Brown may be out of Miami this off-season ... and both Cleveland and Miami have been looking for QBs ever since. (Cleveland may have found one with Colt McCoy, time will tell.)

Do Redskins fans talk about how they missed out on Aaron Rodgers? Do Vikings fans lament that they passed on him twice? They might ... but I doubt it, and no way is it sports radio fodder to the extent that it is here in the Bay Area. To be sure, none of these teams took a QB with the pick, and there's something to that (though the Redskins took Campbell with the 25th pick just after Rodgers went to Green Bay .

Look, I am the last guy to apologize for Mike Nolan and the shambles of a front office that decided Alex Smith was their guy and Aaron Rodgers wasn't. It was a massive mistake. But the 49ers were not alone. More than 2/3 of the league decided against taking Rodgers. They were ALL wrong.