Lowell Cohn: Blaine Gabbert’s careful game puts 49ers at risk

Checkdown Charlie.

That’s what one former NFL coach calls Blaine Gabbert whenever we talk 49ers. Checkdown Charlie. Always looking for the checkdown pass. The easy, short, low-risk pass to a running back instead of the serious downfield pass to a wide receiver that gains major yards and makes a statement. Checkdown passes often accomplish nothing.

Another way of understanding Charlie - I mean Gabbert - is to say, with considerable accuracy, he lacks courage. Doesn’t have guts like Derek Carr, quarterback as gunslinger.

Gabbert tries to dink and dunk his way down the field in small increments. Boring to the max. Not to mention inefficient. He is predictable. He is easy to figure out. Has no flare, no imagination, no spit-in-your-eye bravery. He is too nice. Too careful. And because he throws to backs and tight ends instead of wide receivers, he is easy to stop.

Watch him against the Rams. He will throw a bunch of short passes even if the play calls for long stuff. He needs 10 yards on third down. He sees the sticks right there. Can smell the sticks. So, he checks down to a 9-yard pass. A completion that helps his passer rating but doesn’t get the first down. The 49ers offense trudges off the field.

He succeeded in the preseason with his wimp throws because opponents don’t game plan in preseason. In a real game, the other team - the Rams - has studied Gabbert’s tendencies. Surely, the Rams noticed he is a short-pass maven, a master of the checkdown. Jeff Fisher will coach the Rams defense to take away those passes. Not hard to do.

Like every other head coach facing a Checkdown Charlie, Fisher will move his defenders to the line of scrimmage, put extra men in the box, as they say. He will take away the short stuff and invite Gabbert to throw long. Force him to throw long.

Exactly what Gabbert doesn’t want. He’s a cost accountant, an actuary - noble professions - but not appropriate for a quarterback. Gabbert hates to throw long, hates to test the defense because bad things happen on long passes. Of course, great things happen on long passes, also. But Gabbert thinks about the bad things and he becomes paralyzed. And then he checks down.

Gabbert, to his credit, can see the entire field, can read defenses, makes the right call at the line of scrimmage. He’s very good before the play, and if he never actually had to play, he’d be a Pro Bowler.

It’s after he gets the ball when the circus starts. He almost never knows where the ball is going. Oh, he knows the general direction. That’s about it. He looks at his receiver and throws too high or too low, or too far out front or too far behind.

He’s not even good at the checkdown throw. Not really. Watch him throw behind the running back. Watch him make the running back perform a pirouette to get his hands on the ball. Watch the defense crush the poor pirouetting running back. Gabbert uses a different throwing motion almost every time. Each pass is an adventure in travel. A journey into uncharted territory. Gabbert is, in fact, a different quarterback on just about every throw.

Colin Kaepernick is not a Checkdown Charlie. Never has been. That’s why Kaepernick took the job from Alex Smith under Jim Harbaugh. Smith has decided Checkdown Charlie qualities can be too cautious. But he is a very good quarterback. The Niners would love to have him right now, today, this minute.

But Kaepernick is - or was - more daring than Smith. And in terms of daring, lives in another universe compared to shy, retiring, safety-first Gabbert. At least Kaepernick has the idea of going downfield. Of being adventurous. Of being rude to the defense. Of playing the game on his agenda. Of not playing the game on the agenda the defense gives him.

Kaepernick can complete passes if he knows where to throw before he gets to line of scrimmage. Harbaugh told him where to throw. Took the choice and worry out of his head.

Kaepernick can complete passes - deep passes - if he doesn’t have to read the coverage. If he doesn’t throw too hard for the receiver. If he gets the ball anywhere near the receiver. If he doesn’t get confused and hold the ball too long and lose sense of the defensive pressure and get sacked. If he doesn’t throw into double coverage and get picked.

Kaepernick is not the Platonic ideal of quarterback, but he wants to go downfield. He has the right mindset. And Gabbert does not.

It is inaccurate to say Gabbert got the starting job because he outplayed Kaepernick in preseason. Gabbert didn’t outplay Kaepernick because Kaepernick barely played. Bad throwing shoulder. Lost too much weight. Not ready. It was hard for Gabbert to lose the competition under those circumstances. It would be like losing the competition to a mannequin.

Kaepernick may never be ready. May be through in the league. May never get on the field. Who knows? But one thing is certain.

The 49ers have a full-blown quarterback controversy on their hands and they haven’t yet played a down. There is a Kaerpernick camp and a Gabbert camp among fans, and you can bet among Niners players and coaches. And that means the Kap camp will scrutinize every Gabbert gesture, every pass, every handoff, every run in the zone-read offense and, yes, every checkdown.

Could Kaepernick have done that play better? Would the offense be sharper with Kaepernick? If Gabbert does not play well in the first half against the Rams, you will hear fans calling for Kaepernick.

A highly uncomfortable position for the Niners. It’s what happens when you have Checkdown Charlie.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.