I have to say I was very impressed with San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick at the podium after the brutal loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Kaepernick threw four interceptions, two that went for Cardinal touchdowns, and ended the day with passer rating of 16.7. Kaepernick threw for 53 yards and rushed for 46.
After a loss, Kaepernick tends to be a little prickly in his press conferences, repeating the same replies about executing better. That was not the case today. It was a thoughtful and eloquent man I saw at the podium, and I would almost say emotional. Below is the full transcript and you can watch the video here.
Did the Cardinals do anything to throw the 49ers for a loop?
No. They played man most of the game. The biggest thing was I didn't play well. I put our team behind the eight ball from the jump and we never rebounded from that.
On the first two interceptions:
The first pass I just have to put it further outside and allow Vernon (Davis) to make that play. The second one, got a little pressure, role right, thought I could fit that one in to Anquan (Boldin), it got undercut. Not of those are my fault, my mistakes that hurt this team.
On ever imagining this type of performance:
No. Never crossed my mind. Very hard for me to deal with. Very hard to see myself go out and play like that and hurt this team the way I did. I nullified all of the efforts of every other player on that field today and that's something I have to fix. I have to be better for this team moving forward.
What did his teammates say to him after the two picks?
That we have to get back into it. That we have to get rolling. It was never a negative thought. It was just, 'Alright, this is the situation we're in, we have to fix it. We have to try to make plays to get back in this game.'
A lot of coaches would take a quarterback out of a game with a performance like that. Did he appreciate Tomsula keeping him in the game to try to work through the issues?
As a quarterback, it's great to know that your coach supports you and is going to allow you that opportunity.
Is there any concern of carry over for next week?
No. That's something we have to fix this week. We'll have to address it this week. I have to be better this week and getting ready for the Packers next week. We have to be ready for them. They're a great football team. They'll be prepared.
This is a new, young team. Are the answers in this locker room?
Most definitely. We have good players. We just have to go out and perform. Once again, today was 100 percent my fault. There's nothing anyone in that locker room could have done to change that game today, the way I played.
After the interception to start the second half, did he think it was over?
We have to keep playing. We're not going to quit playing football because something bad happened again. Once again, that was a bad play on my part and I have to be able to make those plays for this team.
How will the team recover from this loss?
You go back to work. There's nothing you can do as far as dwelling on this game. It's not going to help you move forward and it's not going to help you win the next game. You look at the film, you learn from it and we have to be ready for Green Bay.
Were there any positives you could glean from today?
We'll have to go into the film and see it. It's hard to say when you're on the field. You can't see everything.
Is it normal being in shotgun backed up against the goal line, when Carlos Hyde was tackled for the safety:
It depends. We've done it both ways. That was another play call we had. It was an opportunity for us to make a play and things didn't work out for us.
What do you mean? An audible or that particular play call?
Just with that particular play call. Every play we call, we have an opportunity to make a play. We didn't make one there.