Sooner or later, opponents are going to realize that blitzing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is actually counterproductive. At least it was again this past weekend in the Niners’ 22-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Per ESPN Stats & Information, Kaepernick was 6-of-10 passing for 129 yards when the Chiefs sent at least five rushers, with all of his completions against the blitz going for first downs.

His lone touchdown pass – a 9-yarder to Stevie Johnson – came against the blitz.

But when Kaepernick had more time to think in the pocket, his numbers were much worse.

With four or fewer rushers, Kaepernick completed 8 of 16 passes, averaging just 4.5 yards per attempt, compared to 12.9 yards per attempt against five or more rushers. He also was sacked three times with normal pressure.

“We knew going into the game that we were really going to have to solidify them, and if we did, then we could have big plays,” Niners right guard Alex Boone said of Kansas City’s pass rush.

“There’s some pressure here and there, a couple sacks, but at the end of the day, we knew it was going to be a fist fight, it was going to go 60 minutes. Great team, happy we won.”

Now, the 49ers get back into the NFC West and travel to face a wounded St. Louis Rams team that is missing defensive end Chris Long and has only one sack through four games, by rookie defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

A year ago, the Rams’ 53 sacks ranked third in the NFL and defensive end Robert Quinn’s 19 sacks were second in the league. Quinn has yet to register a sack this year.

Can the Rams generate a pass rush without getting burned by Kaepernick by blitzing?