49ers' pursuit of Peyton Manning now motivation for Alex Smith

Alex Smith has been through a lot since the San Francisco 49ers made him the No. 1 pick in the 2005 draft.

Nothing was quite like the period at the outset of free agency when the 49ers were making a bid to sign free-agent Peyton Manning and Smith was in limbo. It’s a situation that isn’t going to go away easily, even if coach Jim Harbaugh tries his best to deflect the club’s interest in Manning, who eventually landed in Denver.

“Certainly there are a lot of forms of motivation,” Smith said, according to Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. “I guess that's there a little bit as far as motivation.”

Smith reiterated there are no hard feelings for the team or Harbaugh. This is likely a situation where once the 49ers reach the regular season, all of the offseason storylines will fade into the distance.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune