After the 49ers’ offense laid an egg in Seattle, I think Blaine Gabbert has one more week to prove himself before a change needs to be made. If he can’t do it against Dallas this Sunday, at home, a move is necessary.
The 49ers situation with Gabbert is that he’s just way too conservative. When you are conservative like that it usually means you are lacking confidence. Blaine is a guy that is going to get the call from the coach and run the play as it was drawn up. There’s not going to be a lot of audibles, creativity or ad-libbing on the fly. When a team is struggling like that, sometimes you need that spark to get the team fired up. Whether his first years with Jacksonville stunted his growth or not, it doesn’t appear that he has shaken the struggles from his rookie year on.
When a play breaks down, great QBs can make something happen. Niner fans saw Sunday what Russell Wilson can do, what a franchise QB is capable of and the stability he can bring a team week in and week out. The players want a leader as well, one that they can look to and see him fighting for them and doing everything possible to win the game. Making a change at QB will not fix all the problems the 49ers have, especially on the defensive side of the ball, but it’s more of a symbolic move that the coaches, ownership and front office are willing to make a change and do something to make the team better.
There is a sect of both fans and analysts that would like to see Christian Ponder in that role. Ponder is a former first-round pick that showed flashes with the Vikings and even earlier in the preseason with the Niners, but the move should be to Colin Kaepernick and that’s a no-brainer. He’s the one guy on the team that could create some excitement for the fan base, which has endured a lot of ups and down in just the last five years. He went from one of the most dynamic players in the NFL to a pariah in a couple of seasons. He was made to the be the scapegoat for the team’s troubles. A lot has changed since Jim Harbaugh left, both good and bad for Kaepernick, but in that time Colin has become his own man, a leader and, even more than that, a figure of social injustice in America. All that’s left is regaining his prowess on the football field and that could begin again in just a matter of days.
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