San Francisco 49ers: Colin Kaepernick’s job is on the line

ByLuis Tirado Jr.|

Depending on how San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick does tonight on Sunday night against the New York Giants could very well determine his future as the team’s starter.

The San Francisco 49ers are a team that is all sorts of confusion heading into their Week 5 matchup against the Giants. They started out the season with a big 20-3 win over the Minnesota Vikings which silenced the majority of their critics that they can indeed be a contender this season. Needless to say, things have gone pretty south since their season-opening victory.

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The 49ers have lost their past three games and have looked pretty terrible when it comes to their execution on offense. It all stems with the quarterback play of Kaepernick who for the most part hasn’t gotten into any rhythm whatsoever.

Should he put up another abysmal performance against a Giants’ defense that has made a name for itself as a top pass-rushing defense, the writing will definitely be on the wall for the 49ers to consider making a quarterback change to see if they can get anything working with Blaine Gabbert under center.

So far this season, Kaepernick has totaled 727 passing yards on 72 completions for 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He hasn’t found any kind of sync with his receiving targets as his passes are downright terrible. He’s not playing with the same accuracy and velocity that earned him much praise just a few seasons ago.

The truth of the matter is, the past few games have been lost thanks to the terrible on-the-field decisions made by Kaepernick. The 49ers are actually the worst team in the entire NFL when it comes to scoring. That’s right, they’ve averaging only 12 points per game, let that sink in.

The quarterback position is easily in my opinion the most important one on any football team and if one plays as bad as Kaepernick has these past few weeks, surely the 49ers would be wise enough to make a quarterback change. Not to say it should brew a quarterback controversy or anything, but to not make a change would be the definition of insanity if they expect to have Kaepernick magically turn into a superstar at quarterback in another week or so.

Oct 4, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers quarterback

Colin Kaepernick

(7) reacts after being hit on a 49ers running play against the Green Bay Packers in the third quarter at Levi

Gabbert might not be the definitive answer the 49ers need at quarterback but one has to figure it can’t get any worse than what Kaepernick has been doing lately. The Giants are a team on a mission and while they aren’t perfect, will definitely bring the pressure to Kaepernick and if he isn’t careful, this could be his last start under center.

Not only will the 49ers lose but he’ll also lose his starting spot to a quarterback that comes nowhere close to his former self. Kaepernick’s confidence level is quite thin at this moment as a move like this could be something that he may never recover from again should he get benched this season.

Of course part of the blame comes from offensive coordinator Geep Chryst who is putting way too much pressure on Kaepernick to win or lose games on his arm. The only real way the 49ers can expect to beat the Giants on the road would be by committing to the run and letting running back Carlos Hyde do his thing.

The Giants’ pass rush will more than likely be too much to handle for Kaepernick who has already been sacked 14 times so far this season and will probably see more coming his way tonight. That’s why the 49ers should just commit to the run and ease some pressure off of him since it’s probably the only thing they can do at this point of the season to hope they can bounce back. If not, it’ll be time for Kaepernick to take a step back and root his team from the sidelines.

Next: 2015 NFL Predictions for Week 5

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