San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick and coach Jim Tomsula aren’t on the same page about Tomsula’s decision to bench Kaepernick this week.
Tomsula explained that he made the decision to sit Kaepernick down in favor of Blaine Gabbert because he thinks Kaepernick needs to “step back and breathe.” But Kaepernick thinks that explanation rings hollow.
“I’m not out of breath, so I don’t understand that reference,” Kaepernick told reporters on Friday.
If Kaepernick doesn’t understand why Tomsula benched him, that doesn’t speak well for Tomsula’s ability to communicate with his players. Tomsula should be able to explain to Kaepernick exactly why he made the decision to go to Gabbert.
But Kaepernick should also understand that when your play declines the way Kaepernick’s has, a benching is in order. Kaepernick’s passer rating has declined from 98.3 in 2012 to 91.6 in 2013 to 86.4 in 2014 to 78.8 this year. Those numbers are worthy of a benching, whether Kaepernick understands Tomsula’s comments or not.