James Lofton: You don’t stick Kaepernick in the game in the 4th quarter

James Lofton understands why San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly decided to leave Blaine Gabbert in the game as his team was on the way to a 33-21 loss against the Arizona Cardinals Thursday night.

As Lofton explained to co-host Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz, Kelly learned a lesson when wearing two hats with the Philadelphia Eagles. And that, he thinks, is what stopped him from replacing Lofton with Colin Kaepernick.

‘Head coach would like to play the best players’

“The head coach would like to play the best players, because when this head coach last year was the general manager in Philadelphia, he kind of screwed things up a little bit,” Lofton said. “So now he’s stepping back and saying, ‘Just let me coach. Don’t burden me with this guy has to play, I can’t play this guy.’

“Maybe they will get to play (Kaepernick), but I don’t think you stick him in in the fourth quarter when you’re down by 21. That’s not giving him a chance to excel when you throw him in there like that. It’s not as easy as it seems to take a quarterback out. Think about it. When was the last time you saw a quarterback of any ilk pulled from a game?”