The San Francisco 49ers lost an ugly one on Sunday, dropping a 47-7 defeat to the Arizona Cardinals. The blame can be spread far and wide, but an obvious issues was Colin Kaepernick. He put together the worst performance of his career, throwing four interceptions, and finishing the game with a QB rating of 16.7. He had some good runs, but from a throwing perspective, it was a huge regression.
The Cardinals went into half time up 31-7, and then proceeded to pick off Kap to start the third quarter. At that point, I figured we would probably see Blaine Gabbert before the game was over. Instead, Kap finished out the game, and Gabbert never got into the game.
After the game, Jim Tomsula emphasized that Kap was still the quarterback. When asked why Kap was not benched, Tomsula said he wanted to see Kap work through his struggles. Kap was unable to overcome those struggles, not even managing anything resembling garbage yards or touchdowns. The Cardinals had their foot on the 49ers throat the entire second half, but I am still surprised how little Kap could do.
That made it all the more surprising that we did not see Gabbert. No, I do not think Gabbert should replace Kap as the starter. But when you're getting pounded like the 49ers were, I am not entirely sure what they were trying to accomplish at that point. Yes, you can see if he figures something out, but it became readily apparent this was just not Kap's day. Why risk injury, and why let his confidence get further eroded? We saw Gabbert get some time last year against Denver in that blowout. In spite of what Tomsula said, I just don't get the thought process.
@Stugotz790 Want to know when you've hit rock bottom? When Blaine Gabbert is giving you pep talks. pic.twitter.com/uxhQgbcf7P
— Mike (@DONTplayPARLAYS) September 27, 2015