He is a more dynamic player leading to a jump to twice the scoring average and sparking the imagination of an entire fan base.

That gives you an idea of how far Russell Wilson has come in the eight weeks since the teams played.

Oh, you thought we were talking about Colin Kaepernick, who has replaced Alex Smith as the 49ers' starting quarterback? Well, he's different, too, but his passer rating is roughly similar to the numbers Smith was putting up.

It's Wilson's production that has been overhauled since that first meeting:

"He looked good against us the first game," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "We went into that game seeing a very good quarterback, a very accurate quarterback. Very mobile quarterback that could hurt you running the ball and throwing the ball. Got real good command of the offense, and that's continued and has been good. I really felt like in the first game we played them, he threw some beautiful passes. Fortunately for us, they were dropped, but his accuracy, his play, was right on the money."