Ted Robinson, the radio voice of the San Francisco 49ers, joined the Rise Guys on ESPN 1320 yesterday to discuss quarterback Colin Kaepernick being benched in favor of Blaine Gabbert during Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bears. Gabbert replaced Kaepernick early in the fourth quarter with the 49ers trailing 24-6 and following a performance where the quarterback had completed just one of his five passes in the game for four yards.
"Colin Kaepernick played in the fourth quarter in Miami with confidence and poise and even a little bit of bravado about him and yesterday it was a complete reversion," Robinson said. "He couldn't throw the ball. He ran out of bounds. He ran to the sidelines. Didn't stick his foot in the ground and go. It was stunning and that's clearly why [head coach] Chip Kelly made the move.
"Chip Kelly's gone out there pretty much on a limb for Kaepernick and he clearly saw this yesterday. And if you heard his comments after the game, Chip said, 'Look, we got to a point where we were going to have to throw the ball on every play, so I thought Gabbert was better.' That's not a real good compliment for Kaepernick if you say, 'Because we have to throw the ball on every play, we have to go to this guy.' If you're an NFL quarterback, that's not a good thing to hear."
You can listen to the entire interview on ESPN 1320.
What Kelly said following the game was that the switch was made in order to provide a spark. "I thought we needed a spark on offense and needed to get something going," Kelly told the media. "Give Blaine a shot. Knew we were going to be throwing it every down. So give Blaine a shot. That was it. Nothing more."
"We're down a couple scores and obviously we got to throw it a ton," Kelly said later during the press conference. "So I just said maybe we can see if we can get a spark for our team."
Kelly did not necessarily commit to Kaepernick as the starting quarterback when the 49ers host the New York Jets on Sunday. However, he did not hint that anyone should expect the change to be permanent. He said that there had been no discussions on the matter.
Kelly remained on the East Coast following Sunday's loss. He wanted to be with his family following the death of his father, Paul, who passed away on Friday night. The memorial is today in Maine.
