The San Francisco 49ers were blown out of the water in Week 3 to the tune of 40 points to the Arizona Cardinals. The final score read 47-7 as quarterback Colin Kaepernick put up one of the worst games of his career. Kaepernick had been looking like a much improved player through two weeks of the season, but the Cardinals' game suddenly has everything being put into question as head coach Jim Tomsula is denying any idea that Blaine Gabbert will see the field in Week 4.
The boxscore was not kind to Kaepernick. The quarterback completed just nine passes in Week 3 while recording four interceptions in the process. It was ugly. Garrett Celek led the wide receivers with 29 yards off three catches. It went downhill from there. However, Tomsula is making it clear that just because the quarterback had a bad game, does not mean he is being replaced. The 49ers have former first-round pick Blaine Gabbert on their roster must the team has no plan of putting him on the field.
"Colin is our quarterback," Tomsula said, via the team's web site. "I think the world of that guy. ... He's a competitive guy. Colin's a guy that has a tendency to put it all on his back."
The chances Gabbert is a big upgrade from Kaepernick seem slim. It is also far too early to give up on Kaepernick after one bad game. Yes, it was a very, very bad game, but the 49ers have no real need to sound the alarms just now. Now if this were the second-half of the season and Kaepernick were still playing this way then yes, he should be benched, but not after Week 3. Tomsula has stuck by Kaepernick's sides throughout the entire offseason when trade rumors were circling and that is not going to change after this performance.
The entire team struggled in Week 3, not just the quarterback. The defense allowed Chris Johnson to put up 110 rushing yards while Larry Fitzgerald has his way in the secondary to the tune of 134 yards and two scores. The 49ers could not get Carlos Hyde working while Vernon Davis failed to get his name in the boxscore for anything. Regardless, Kaepernick is taking full blame for the performance as things must change quickly for San Francisco.
"There's nothing anyone in that locker room could have done to change that game the way I played today," Kaepernick said, via Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. "It's 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 the efforts of every other player on that field today, and that's something I have to fix for this team moving forward."
