SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Tired of seeing San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert airmail enough open receivers to make FedEx jealous, the chants rang out loud enough they could be heard clearly in the upper reaches of Levi's Stadium. Even behind the thick glass walls of the press box, it wasn't hard to make out the repeated pleas of "We want Kap, we want Kap, we want Kap."

Even twice-retired former 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis took to Twitter to throw his support behind quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

"I’m not deaf," left tackle Joe Staley said when asked if he heard the chants. "I’m focused on doing my job, just like last week we heard a lot of Cowboys chants, and this week they were chanting that, so I’m out there trying to do my job to the best of my ability."

On the heels of Thursday night's 33-21 loss to Arizona and another dreadful Gabbert performance -- he was 18-of-31 for 162 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, and was sacked seven times for a passer rating of 56.1 and a QBR of 47.9 -- San Francisco now has plenty of time before it plays again on Oct. 16 against Buffalo.

It's time that 49ers coach Chip Kelly intends to use to evaluate his flailing offense, including the quarterback position.

"I think we’re going to look at everything," Kelly said. "I mean, we’re 1-4. We need to make sure we’re going out there and giving us the best chance to win, so we’re going to look at everything."

What Kelly and his coaching staff will surely find is neither Gabbert nor Kaepernick can single-handedly turn around a season that seems to be getting away quickly. No, a real solution will have to wait until at least the offseason, but could a change at least offer a spark?

Kelly's acknowledgement he would be open to looking at the quarterback situation was a change in tone from his previous support of Gabbert. But Kelly has also made it clear in the past that Kaepernick doesn't much resemble the quarterback that took the league by storm in 2012 and 2013. Instead, Kaepernick has struggled to put weight back on after a series of offseason surgeries to his knee, shoulder and thumb.

And in practice, where Gabbert initially claimed the job in part because of his ability to be available, Kelly said Gabbert has been the better of the two players. But Kelly also pointed out Thursday night whatever advantage Gabbert has in practice isn't carrying over to games.

"It’s the entire offense is like that," Kelly said. "But, I would expect us to execute in practice. It’s a controlled environment. You’re in a lot of trouble if you’re not having any success in practice, either. I think that’s what we have to make sure we can do, is can we take it from the practice field to the game field, and we’re not doing that right now on the offensive side of the ball."

The issue for Kelly now becomes whether he believes Kaepernick represents an upgrade over Gabbert and can provide a spark to a stagnant offense. In Thursday night's loss, Gabbert struggled mightily as the Cardinals repeatedly created pressure.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Gabbert was pressured 17 times, tied for the most in his career, and he was 1-of-6 with an interception when under duress. Taking it further, Arizona blitzed Gabbert 11 times and the 49ers managed to gain a total of 4 yards on those plays as Gabbert was 3-of-8 with two interceptions and two sacks.

"It’s extremely frustrating," Gabbert said. "I let this team and this organization down tonight, and did not play good whatsoever and that’s on me. I had two crucial turnovers there that led to points for the Cardinals, and that was the difference in the game right there. I've got to do a better job protecting the football and leading this team to scoring more points and winning games."

Gabbert now sits at or near the bottom of the NFL in passer rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt and yards per game, and his six interceptions are tied for third most in the NFL. Save for his ability to connect with wideout Jeremy Kerley, the best play for Gabbert this season has been a quarterback scramble. He rushed for another 70 yards on Thursday night.

Would Kaepernick be much better? When Kaepernick last played consistently in the first half of last season, he ranked 27th in completion percentage, 29th in yards per attempt, and 26th in QBR. Like Gabbert, he also struggled as a pocket passer, something that is unlikely to be improved given his long layoff. Perhaps Kaepernick could provide a different look for defenses and turn some of those scrambles Gabbert has had success with into bigger, game-changing plays.

At 1-4, Kelly doesn't have much to lose by making the change. He's doing the right thing by at least considering it. Yes, there are financial implications -- the 49ers would owe Kaepernick $14.5 million if he got hurt and couldn't pass a physical next April. But it's still Kelly's job to give his team the best chance to win every week.

Whether Kaepernick actually provides that remains to be seen. Judging from the chants, even if many 49ers fans don't want Kaepernick to play, it's clear they just don't want to see Gabbert anymore. The reality is that if the 49ers are going to make a change from Gabbert to Kaepernick, now is a logical time to do it.