The San Francisco 49ers have started off the season at just 1-3 and a big part of their lack of success has to do with the poor play of quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He has been struggling each week so far and it has gotten worse over the past couple of weeks in particular against the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals.
Kaepernick has always had quite a few issues with his mechanics, but they haven’t looked quite as bad as they have this year. There are a few different issues that need to be taken care of and they need to be taken care of immediately. San Francisco cannot afford to keep playing in mediocrity due to the issues that their quarterback hasn’t fixed throughout his career to this point.
Looking deeper at the issues, there are three things that he must make to his game moving forward.
San Francisco has to begin putting pressure on him to improve or else they have to move on. Perhaps this coming offseason will be the year that they choose to bring in legitimate competition for him. If they do that or not, Kaepernick has to know that he doesn’t have too much more rope left before he hangs himself.
Let’s take a look at which three fixes must be made to his game immediately this season.
1. He Must Play with More Confidence
First and foremost, playing with confidence is a must for a starting NFL quarterback. Kaepernick admitted following San Francisco’s loss to the Packers that he didn’t play with confidence because of all the mistakes that he made against the Cardinals the week before. He cannot afford to continue playing that way and must get back to being a confident player and making plays with complete confidence.
2. Improve Vision of the Field and Don’t Stare Down Receiver
One of the biggest mistakes a quarterback can make is staring down the receiver that he intends to throw the football to. That is exactly what Kaepernick has been doing over the last couple of weeks in particular and it has resulted in interceptions and broken up passes. If he wants to take a lot of pressure off of his shoulders and cut down on his turnover chances, cutting out the stare down of his receivers and developing more field vision is the way to go.
3. Become More of a Leader for His Offense
Another major concern for Kaepernick has been his lack of leadership on the field for the 49ers this season. He hasn’t shown the ability to step up and be a vocal leader and get his team organized on the field. They have looked lost at times, which all comes back on the quarterback.
All of that being said, Kaepernick hasn’t shown signs of improvement and his work ethic needs to be questioned at this point in time. If he doesn’t start making the big leap forward that he should be making, it’s time for the 49ers to look into bringing another quarterback on board to replace him. There is no denying the talent that Kaepernick has, but talent doesn’t translate into success without hard work.
