49ers’ offensive problems go way beyond Colin Kaepernick

“We didn’t play well enough as a team,” Tomsula said. “We’re evaluating everyone. I’m not going to make any comments on personnel at this time.”

Considering the previous hard-line stance that Tomsula took to shoot down any possibility that the 2011 second-round pick would be benched, “evaluating everyone” certainly raised doubts about the team’s confidence in the quarterback. And with the team off to a pitiful 2-6 start, it’s certainly not surprising that the 49ers are looking for anything to bring a spark to the offense.

But now they’re turning to Blaine Gabbert, a former Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick who was eventually benched for Chad Henne before being traded to the 49ers.

It’s certainly not an unjustified move after Kaepernick completed less than 50 percent of his passes against the Rams, missed entirely uncovered wide receivers and led the 49ers to just six points against a St. Louis defense that allowed an average of 19.8 points entering the week.

It’s also no secret that the 49ers know this season is going nowhere under Kaepernick’s guidance. They have already started to ship their talent elsewhere, with Vernon Davis being traded to the Denver Broncos prior to the trade deadline.

However, expecting Blaine Gabbert to perform any better is nothing short of foolish.

In three seasons with the Jaguars, Gabbert completed 53 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and 24 interceptions in 27 starts before ceding the starting job to Henne. He averaged just 159.4 yards per game in those games and led the Jaguars to a 5-22 record as a starter.

The Jaguars certainly didn’t help Gabbert by surrounding him with subpar talent, but if he gets that excuse in his favor, surely Kaepernick deserves the same. Kaepernick was making do without a decent tight end to throw to, and although Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith are good receivers, neither can bail out a bad quarterback at this stage.

The offensive play calling has also been poor, and while Kaepernick can pick up yards on the ground, Gabbert’s longest career run was 12 yards. Gabbert as a starting, franchise quarterback was put to bed a long time ago. Kaepernick is on the cusp of such a thing himself, but he’s not quite there.

The state of the current offensive line is a mess. There are two culprits in particular: right guard Jordan Devey and right tackle Erik Pears. Both are among the worst starters in the league at their positions and both are responsible for giving up multiple sacks on a weekly basis. Neither can pass protect and neither can run block particularly well, and Kaepernick has been under constant assault from opposing defenses.

San Francisco’s scheme called for Kaepernick to drop back, stand in the pocket and go through several reads. He ran an offense with a lot of options and was expected to wait for Smith to get open deep or Boldin to shake loose the opposing team’s top cornerback. But by the time any of that happened, Kaepernick was already being chased due to the poor offensive line play. He’s been sacked 28 times this season, tied for second-most in the league.

The 49ers haven’t been hit by the injury bug as much as some teams, but the injuries are starting to pile up in San Francisco. Losing Kilgore before the season even got underway was huge. Kilgore is among the best players on the line when he’s healthy, but he’s still out, and his replacement, Marcus Martin, hasn’t been great.

Then there’s starting running back Carlos Hyde. He’s filled in admirably for former 49er Frank Gore, giving Kaepernick one solid option to work with. But Hyde sustained a foot injury earlier in the season and it limited him against the Seattle Seahawks. Hyde was ruled out for Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams and his status going forward is up in the air. The same applies to Boldin, who sat out Sunday with a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Hyde’s backup, Reggie Bush, tore his MCL against the Rams and is out for the rest of the season. Rookie Mike Davis was also injured Sunday and will undergo surgery on a broken hand, leaving Kendall Gaskins as the healthiest running back on the 49ers. The team signed former Browns back Shaun Draughn on Monday evening and veteran Pierre Thomas on Tuesday to get more healthy bodies in there.

Of course, these other factors don’t mean Kaepernick was playing well. His passer rating is at the lowest mark of his career and he has just six touchdowns in eight games, despite throwing more passes per game than ever before.

“I’m doing everything I can to win games,” Kaepernick said after a 27-6 loss to the Rams. “Whether they make [a quarterback] change or not is their decision, but I’ll give this team everything I have every week.”

The 49ers are No. 32 in total offense and average an NFL-worst 13.6 points per game, but it’s hard to imagine that switching to Gabbert will help matters. Even if he has improved since his days with the Jaguars, inserting him into the lineup won’t fix the poor offensive line and won’t improve the team’s lackluster offensive weapons.

Whether Kaepernick can ever reestablish himself as the 49ers’ quarterback of the future remains to be seen -- it certainly seems unlikely at this point. Still, the 49ers simply don’t have a solution available that will make them a good offense in 2015, and that includes making a change at quarterback.