The Internet Reacts To The 49ers Benching Colin Kaepernick For Blaine Gabbert

It’s hard to tell if this is rock bottom for Colin Kaepernick but – if it’s not – it’s certainly close. The San Francisco 49ers announced on Monday night that they will bench their former star signal caller starting this week. Further, the team named Blaine Gabbert, who has thrown 23 touchdowns and 24 interceptions in his career, its new starting quarterback.

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According to McLorg, San Francisco wanted to pull the trigger sooner, but wanted Gabbert’s first start to be in as favorable of a situation as possible.

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This move is shocking for a bunch of reasons, namely because Gabbert hasn’t exactly been a superstar during his NFL career and because Kaepernick signed a big contract extension last summer. Still, Kaepernick has struggled mightily this year, so it is understandable that the Niners decided to go in a different direction, even if that direction is a guy who has struggled throughout his NFL career.

Once the news dropped, the Internet reacted by making a ton of jokes at Kaepernick’s expense.

It was pointed out that Tuesday is an especially awkward day to make the move, as it is Kaepernick’s 28th birthday.

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And, of course, because it is the Internet in 2015, someone had to go ahead and photoshop the crying Michael Jordan face on Kaepernick’s body.

This wasn’t the only big change to the Niners’ offense on Monday – the team traded longtime tight end Vernon Davis to Denver earlier in the day.