Blaine Gabbert has been given five games to prove he's the quarterback capable of leading this 49ers offense.
So far, it's not going so well.
On Thursday night at Levi's Stadium, Gabbert had another rough night as the 49ers lost to the Arizona Cardinals 33-21 to fall to 1-4. By the end of the game, many in the crowd were hoping Kelly would pull Gabbert in favor of Colin Kaepernick, chanting, "We want Kap!"
Now, as the 49ers try to regroup and get ready for their next test, against the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 16, Kelly appears ready to consider a change.
"We're 1-4," Kelly told the assembled media after Thursday's loss. "We've got to make sure we're giving ourselves the best chance to win, so we're going to look at everything."
Certainly, not everything that went wrong Thursday night was Gabbert's fault. His protection was shaky, and he was sacked seven times. The 49ers also lost the turnover battle 3-0, and the defense was picked apart by backup Arizona QB Drew Stanton, who was starting in place of the injured Carson Palmer.
But, once again, Gabbert was shaky. He threw for just 162 yards, was picked off twice and had a quarterback rating of 47.9.
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"I've got to play better, there's no question about that," Gabbert told reporters after the game.
Kelly has so far been reluctant to turn to Kaepernick. Recently, he said he doesn't believe Kaepernick is 100 percent physically ready to play. Kaepernick, however, has said he's ready to go.
As Kelly mulls changes to his offense, he's now more likely to consider making the change at quarterback and perhaps at wide receiver, too, where drops continue to plague the offense.
Kelly, billed as an offensive innovator, seemed frustrated after this latest loss. With some extra time before the Bills game, this may be the perfect time to make a move to Kaepernick.
"There's a couple drives that i thought we did a nice job, but not enough to win a football game," Kelly said. "I don't think we protected well enough. I don't think we threw it well enough. I don't think we -- we had too many drops, too many interceptions. It's our entire group."
