With Colin Kaepernick to IR, 49ers Clearly Heading Toward Full Rebuild

Maybe this is it.

Maybe this is finally rock bottom for quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers.

Maybe a franchise only three years removed from a trip to Super Bowl XLVII, a team whose stadium is hosting Super Bowl 50, has finally cratered out in a season that's gone from bad to worse to "are you serious?"

Because now the quarterback who led the team to that Super Bowl, the signal-caller who was supposed to lead the team to more—to championships—is headed to injured reserve.

And then probably out of town.

The 49ers announced Saturday they have placed Kaepernick on season-ending injured reserve:

Bleacher Report's Jason Cole reported Kaepernick will need surgery after tearing the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder:

There may be those who will try to spin that injury as the cause of Kaepernick's stunning fall from grace in San Francisco in 2015.

However, that's not what Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported back in October, when he wrote Kaepernick's woeful play caused him to lose his own locker room:

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His confidence is completely shot. It's not that (the players) don't like him. But he's just alone, on an island in that locker room. There's not a lot of people he connects with. Confidence-wise he's just buried right now.

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The 49ers denied this, of course, and Glazer allowed at the time that the team had no plans to move on from Kaepernick in the offseason. "They can move on from him at the end of the year provided he is not injured," Glazer reported. "That's not the team's mindset. They look at him and say, 'This is the same guy that took us to the Super Bowl.'"

Not a week later, Bleacher Report's own Jason Cole reported multiple San Francisco players wanted Kaepernick benched:

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Two 49ers players texted me and said after this game that it is time for Colin Kaepernick to be benched. This game lost to the Rams was the tipping point in a series of events that have been building and building and building to this point. What these players say is they don't want Kaepernick's to be out of the plans for the 49ers. But simply put they think he needs time on the bench to clear his head, get himself straight so he understands what the offense is trying to do and what he can do to make it work.

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Sure enough, before the team's Week 9 game against the Atlanta Falcons, Kaepernick got the hook. Head coach Jim Tomsula told Paul Gutierrez of ESPN he just wanted to give Kaepernick a break. "This was just a decision that I just felt like I wanted Colin to step back and breathe," Tomsula said. "Look at things through a different lens. Keep preparing, keep doing his thing, keep working, but just step back and take a look at things, OK."

That break's going to last a good long while now.

Make no mistake, Tomsula can say Kaepernick is in the team's plans all he wants. It doesn't matter. After all, per Vegas oddsmakers (h/t CBS Sports), Tomsula might not be in the team's plans either.

In fact, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News recently opined that Tomsula is as likely as not to be next on the Niners' hit parade:

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It’ll go the traditional 49ers route–there will be national reports about the great roster Trent Baalke built, the great payroll genius of Paraag Marathe, and the bumbling of the coaching staff, all pointed at Tomsula.

Once those reports start, Tomsula will be a dead sweatsuit walking. The way it happened with Nolan, Singletary and Harbaugh before him.

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Whoever winds up being the coach in 2016, that man will face an even taller task than the one Tomsula stared at when he took the job. And that was after 40 percent of the team's player snaps from a season ago left town via one route or another.

Well, actually, it was sort of during...during one of the more unprecedented exoduses in NFL history.

Linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland? Retired. Same with defensive end Justin Smith.

Guard Mike Iupati, wide receiver Michael Crabtree and running back Frank Gore? All gone in free agency.

Tight end Vernon Davis was traded a few weeks ago. Linebacker Aldon Smith was released after once again running afoul of the law.

And that list is by no means complete.

Toss in the complete turnover of the coaching staff, and it's no surprise the Niners struggled this year.

However, Kaepernick was supposed to help the 49ers bridge these struggles, not add to them. He was going to redefine his position. Instead, defenders claim he hamstrung his own team's offense:

He was just bad this season, with career lows nearly across the board. Like Robert Griffin III, it appeared the NFL caught up to Kaepernick, and his edge on the ground just wasn't worth the liabilities through the air.

It's this simple: If the 49ers' $19 million-a-season quarterback can't pass a physical next year, his 2016 salary would be guaranteed, and the Niners will effectively be stuck with him.

If he can, he'll be cut. If getting benched for Blaine Gabbert left any doubt that would happen, Saturday's move erased it. Because there are financial motives involved as well:

And $875,000 is a lot less than $19 million.

Kaepernick will become just the latest vestige of that Super Bowl team to be purged. At this point, there aren't many left.

General manager Trent Baalke recently told CSN Bay Area "this is not a rebuild situation; this is a reload situation." However, he might want to rub his eyes and take a look around.

Because it sure looks like a rebuild, especially after you ask yourself this one question, one easy to ask but difficult to answer: Who is now the face of the San Francisco 49ers?

Think on it a while. I'll wait.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter, @IDPSharks.