Chip Kelly chalked it up to injuries.
But a closer look at Colin Kaepernick's 2015 season as the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback revealed that his biggest problem could be between the ears, according to the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.
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Kelly told reporters at the NFL Annual Meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., that Kaepernick's critics just didn't understand the depths of his ailments that contributed to his benching midway through the season.
"I think the biggest misconception that people don't realize with Kap is just injuries. It's not like his skill set diminished. He went on injured reserve last year. He only played half a season. He was legitimately injured. He's in the process of rehabbing right now. He had a thumb, had a shoulder, had a knee.
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"People look at it as he fell off. He didn't fall off. He got hurt. I think the biggest thing with Kap is let's get him healthy. I think the league has seen a healthy Kap and he's pretty impressive."
The Press Democrat wrote off Kelly's assessment as revisionist history from the perspective of a coach 3,000 miles away in Philadelphia and his mind a million miles away from Kaepernick and the 49ers.
The newspaper chronicled Kaepernick's eight starts, which oddly enough, showed that Kaepernick wasn't as bad as some may believe. The breakdown basically was four good games and four bad games.
But the four subpar performances had a common theme. His emotions got in the way of his play, the Press-Democrat reported.
"Week 3. A few days before the Niners played in Arizona, Cardinals safety Tony Jefferson appeared on 'Pro Football Talk Live' to preview the matchup," the Press-Democrat reviewed. "The host of the show, Mike Florio, asked Jefferson what he was seeing from Kaepernick. Jefferson was not impressed. "We're just seeing on third downs, we've been seeing him tuck the ball away and running," Jefferson said. "We gotta contain him, and try to keep him throwing the ball outside the numbers, because we don't think that's his strength."
"On Sunday, Kaepernick responded by throwing pass after pass outside the numbers and toward the sideline. He clearly was trying to prove he could do what Jefferson said he could not. But, Kaepernick threw four picks, including two pick-sixes, all of which came on throws that traveled outside the numbers."
The next week, a "freaked" Kaepernick took the lingering effects of his play in Week 3 into Week 4 against the Packers.
"He knew he might get benched on the spot if he threw another pick-six, so he threw passes almost no one could catch, not even his teammates. Mostly, he threw groundballs. He completed only 13 passes that game, the Green Bay Packers sacked him six times, and Kaepernick suffered an injury to his left shoulder, his non-throwing shoulder."
The Seahawks, who have had Kaepernick's number throughout his career, made him look "intimidated" in Week 7, and he carried that performance into the Week 8 game against a strong Rams defense, in which he infamously handed off the ball near the 49ers own goal line, even though neither Rams cornerback was covering the San Francisco wide receivers.
Kaepernick looked lost and was benched.
If Chip Kelly's storytelling about Kaepernick raised eyebrows, his psychologist skills with the quarterback will be under review in 2016.
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