Colin Kaepernick says, 'whether football is here or not, I will be fine'

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- With so much white noise surrounding Colin Kaepernick and fans' growing restlessness with him as the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback, how does he block out worries about his job security?

"I don't play for job security," Kaepernick said Wednesday. "Whether football is here or not, I will be fine. I go out; I play to win. I'm not worried about job security when I step in this building."

But should he?

Kaepernick has bottomed out the past two games in completing 22 of 44 passes while getting picked off five times, with a pair of pick-sixes and no touchdowns. Plus, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info, Kaepernick has only six completions on throws of at least 5 yards, and his Total QBR of 38.6 is 27th in the league.

So if it seemed as though he was tentative in the Niners' 17-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, he likely was.

And coach Jim Tomsula took note and had a conversation with Kaepernick and asked whether the quarterback was second-guessing himself.

"If you are, stop," Tomsula said he told Kaepernick. "Can't have it. Can't play that way. Don't play not to make a mistake; just play. Play to make the play."

The marching orders remain for this weekend's Sunday night game at the New York Giants, because while Kaepernick does have two passing touchdowns as well as a rushing TD, all three scores have come with the Niners trailing by at least 25 points.

Tomsula wants Kaepernick to play free and not be afraid to throw in the wake of his four-pick game at Arizona.

"Just play to win," Kaepernick recalled of Tomsula's advice. "If something happens, it happens. But we have to go out and make sure we're making plays.

"It's something that you're going to have that in the back of your mind," Kaepernick said.

"You're going to make sure that you protect the football. I put our team in a bad situation in the Arizona game. I wasn't going to allow that to happen again."

And being tentative against the Packers?

"It did cost us, yes," Kaepernick said. "But that's something I'll correct moving forward."