Jim Tomsula benching Colin Kaepernick for his own good
Thursday 5 November 2015 17:30, UK
San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Tomsula says he made his decision to drop Colin Kaepernick in order to protect his struggling quarterback.
Tomsula announced Kaepernick has been benched in favour of Blaine Gabbert for this Sunday's visit of the Atlanta Falcons as he seeks to spark his underperforming offence into life.
The 49ers rank last in the NFL with 13.6 points per game, over four points behind next worst Tennessee (13.6) and their total of 109 points is the fourth-lowest in franchise history through eight games.
Kaepernick is going through a career-worst season in Total QBR (47.6), yards per attempt (6.7), TD-INT ratio (1.2) and completion percentage (59.3) and Tomsula felt his quarterback needed to be pulled from the line-up to protect him from the mounting negativity from fans and media.
"That pile just kept getting bigger and I wanted him out of it," Tomsula said. "This is a guy I care about a lot."
After going through the film, Tomsula decided that "now is the time" for the move. The coach confirmed that the choice was 100 per cent his to make.
"In no way is 2-6 all on Colin Kaepernick. That's on all of us, everybody here with the Niners," Tomsula said.
"I want Colin to step back and breathe and look at things through a different lens. He will keep preparing and keep doing his thing.
"Colin is going to keep fighting his way through everything. The competitiveness of that guy is second to none. His reaction was exactly what I thought it would be, but Colin will be a tremendous teammate. He'll give everything to this team."
Gabbert, a fifth-year veteran, was taken in the first round of the 2011 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars but struggled before being acquired by the 49ers prior to last season for a sixth-round draft pick.
This preseason, he completed 23 of 28 passes for 203 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 108.8 passer rating and Tomsula has confidence he can provide a spark for the 49ers.
"I've made the decision to go with Blaine Gabbert this week," Tomsula said. "It was a tough decision, but I feel like that's the direction we need to go.
"Blaine has been here for two years, and I've watched Blaine get better every day.
"I've watched the way he goes about his business. I've watched the ball that he throws. I watch how he practices. I watch his seriousness and the way he's prepared every week since he's been here. He's a competitive guy."
