San Francisco 49ers

Gabbert planning to be 49ers starting quarterback next season

Published Jan. 4, 2016 3:04 a.m. ET

foxsports

Blaine Gabbert wants to be the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers next season and staked his claim for the job in Sunday's 19-16 overtime win over the St. Louis Rams.

Gabbert threw for a career-high 354 yards with one touchdown and one interception as the 49ers avenged a 27-6 loss at St. Louis on Nov. 1. Colin Kaepernick was benched in favor of Gabbert one day after that loss.

"I didn’t play particularly well at times,” Gabbert told reporters Sunday. "But our offense, defense and special teams really stepped up when we needed to.”

One thing Gabbert did do well was introduce the big play to a passing game that has been among the league's worst all season. He connected on five passes of at least 31 yards, including a 33-yard scoring strike to Anquan Boldin for San Francisco's lone touchdown.

On the game-winning drive in overtime, Gabbert hit wide receiver Torrey Smith for 15 yards before finding Quinton Patton for 33 yards to set up Phil Dawson's deciding 23-yard field goal.

Gabbert finished 3-5 in his eight starts, throwing for 2,031 yards with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 63.1 percent of his passes. He arrived in San Francisco having lost his last 10 starts with Jacksonville and is eager to compete for the starting role for next season.

“That’s who I am as a person: ‘I’m going to be the starting quarterback. I’m going to be the starting quarterback.’ That’s the way I’ll approach it this offseason,” Gabbert said. “Regardless what happens, that’s my mindset, and I’m going to take this team and run with it.”