Colin Kaepernick: Super Bowl's last plays not an issue

There's no avoiding it: The San Francisco 49ers' final four offensive plays of last season's Super Bowl will be dissected forever.

Quarterback Colin Kaepernick probably has re-lived those moments in his head plenty during the offseason, but he also has the right attitude about what really cost his team during Super Bowl XLVII. It wasn't about four plays.

"What most people don't realize is the last few plays weren't the problem," Kaepernick told Comcast SportsNet Bay Area on Thursday. "It was the first half. We didn't execute in the first half like we should have. So we shouldn't have been in that situation."

He's right. The 49ers were down 28-6 before they touched the ball in the second half. In the first half, the 49ers had two three and outs. They had a fumble and an interception. They had two longer drives that stalled, and the 49ers settled for field goals. The 49ers had 182 yards at halftime, but only six points. That's not the efficient 49ers offense we grew used to.

It's hard to fault Kaepernick on a day the 49ers' offense scored 31 points, but it was a day when San Francisco's struggling defense required the offense to be nearly perfect. The 49ers were far from it in the first half before a terrific second-half rally.

Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.