LITTLE ROCK — This time, it will be different.
That’s the mantra the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers must carry into Sunday’s conference championships.
One step from the Super Bowl once more, the Ravens and 49ers believe they’ve found that extra element for success. For San Francisco, it might be the versatility and big-play potential Colin Kaepernick brings to the offense. For Baltimore, it could be the ramped-up emotions from Ray Lewis’ pending retirement.
The oddsmakers believe the Niners have what they need to beat the Atlanta Falcons one year after an overtime loss to the New York Giants in the NFC title game; San Francisco is favored by 3 1/2 points at Atlanta. That says a lot.
But the bookies don’t believe the Ravens will do any better than in last year’s AFC Championship Game, when they fell at Foxborough 23-20. Baltimore is a 9 1/2-point underdog to the New England Patriots.
“There are challenges that get you to the point that you are at as a football team and make you who you are, even as a person,” said Ravens Coach John Harbaugh, whose team needed a last-minute 70-yard touchdown pass to force overtime at Denver on Saturday before beating the top-seeded Broncos. “And our guys have handled all those things extremely well. Individually, a lot of our guys — and collectively — have come out of it stronger and better men, and we’re a stronger and better team.”
His younger brother, Jim, coach of the 49ers — siblings have never met as head coaches in the Super Bowl — has guided San Francisco to the NFL’s final four in both of his seasons. This is John Harbaugh’s third conference title game in five years in charge.
The 49ers’ Harbaugh sees the togetherness and developing maturity of his team as a reason it could reach the franchise’s first Super Bowl since winning its fifth in 1995.
“We want to be about that,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s attributed to anything, I think it’s just who we are as a team, who our players are. It’s a talent and it’s character. I’ve always thought that about our team.
“Being a great teammate, doing the best to your Godgiven ability each and every time, is a great gift that you can give another man. To have his back. That’s a strong phrase, but I don’t think that’s just something our guys talk about, I think it’s who they are.”
Who the Niners are is quite different this time around. Last season, they used a shutdown defense, strong special teams and a conservative, avoid-mistakes offense to get this far. But quarterback Alex Smith and that offense bogged down too often against the Giants.
San Francisco added Randy Moss and Mario Manningham at wideout and still had Frank Gore at running back. But Moss has been a complementary player and Manningham is out with a torn knee.
Tight end Vernon Davis, Smith’s most reliable target a year ago, has had a lesser role.
The big changes? The emergence of receiver Michael Crabtree, the solidification of the offensive line, and, of course, Kaepernick.
As he showed in setting a playoff record for quarterbacks with 181 yards rushing, and throwing for 243 in the divisional round against Green Bay — his playoff debut — Kaepernick is a gamebreaker.
“I think quarterbacks that have a talent for running the ball can be very effective,” Jim Harbaugh said, stating precisely what he felt when he left Smith on the bench after the incumbent recovered from a concussion late in the season and went the rest of the way with Kaepernick.
“That’s been long known in football, the National Football League as well. A quarterback that can get out of the pocket, run, pick up first downs, that’s a threat that the defense has to account for.”
Playoff glance
All times Central
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
SUNDAY’S GAMES
San Francisco at Atlanta, 2 p.m. (Fox) Baltimore at New England, 5:30 p.m. (CBS)
Sports, Pages 22 on 01/16/2013