Benching Kaepernick Won’t Solve Anything in San Francisco

The San Francisco 49ers’ 2015 season is officially a lost cause.

A terrible record, a lack of talent at multiple positions, a coach that has failed to rally his troops and a front office that is an embarrassment to the rest of the league have all done their part in extinguishing any hopes 49ers fans may have had about seeing their team re-emerge as a powerhouse in the NFC.

Now, just when things seemingly couldn’t get any worse, San Francisco’s year has taken another laughable turn. The team has decided to bench Colin Kaepernick indefinitely in favour of Blaine Gabbert.

Kaepernick has admittedly gone through some streaky periods of performance ranging from satisfactory to downright awful this year, but replacing him is not the answer.

The 49ers are about to witness a monumental regression at quarterback with Gabbert at the helm. During his time as a starter in Jacksonville, he has proven himself incapable of handling even the most mundane assignments. Was the rest of his offense bad? Certainly. But Gabbert isn’t exactly joining The Greatest Show on Turf in San Fran, either.

Entering his fifth year as a pro, Gabbert has still yet to handle situations as a pocket passer. His woeful decision-making has led to erratic throws and costly turnovers, stagnating the performance of the entire offense around him. Most worryingly, he balks at the first sign of pressure, which doesn’t bode well behind San Fran’s turnstile offensive line.

Apparently, management’s idea of fixing the problems on an offense unable to protect its most important player has been to replace a mobile quarterback with one that can work inside the pocket about as well as he can play middle linebacker.

It’s hard to see where the benefit lies for anyone, let alone the fans of this once-proud franchise, to witness this change. But of course, this is the NFL. It’s just as likely that Gabbert gets the start this week against the reeling Atlanta Falcons, plays surprisingly well because of a lack of game film of him in the red and gold, and the hype train starts chugging in a different direction.

Wait for Blaine to get the start the week after, when the opposing team has done their research and promptly shows the world why he was the backup in the first place. Meanwhile the cameras will keep us on Kap-patrol; his stoic face languishing on the sidelines, wishing desperately he was on a team with a little more appreciation and a lot more sense.