Sunday was a career day for Colin Kaepernick in multiple regards.
The quarterback's 398 passing yards against the New Orleans Saints marked the second-highest single-game total of his career (412 in 2013 vs. the Green Bay Packers).
Additionally, an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter put Kaepernick past 2,000 career rushing yards. He's now at 2,005 yards over his six-year careeer.
Kaepernick finished the day with two touchdown passes in what was the San Francisco 49ers most productive offensive performance of the season. The first score came on a 47-yard catch-and-run by DuJuan Harris, and the second was a 65-yard touchdown to Garrett Celek.
The 49ers racked up 486 yards of total offense but were snake bitten by four turnovers in a 41-23 loss to the Saints.
Two of the turnovers came in the red zone. Mike Davis fumbled near the goal line to open the third quarter and Kaepernick fumbled a snap on a fourth-down play towards the end of the game. San Francisco also had a turnover on downs in the red zone when Harris got stuffed on 4th-and-1.
The defeat is San Francisco's seventh straight.
"We definitely got into more of a rhythm today, but we still left a lot out there, particularly in the red zone," Kaepernick said. "We went down there three times, came away with zero points."
Kaepernick's passing yards more than doubled the 330 combined yards from his first two starts of 2016. The quarterback attributed the success through the air to a growing confidence in Chip Kelly's offense.
"I get more and more comfortable every week," Kaepernick said. "This is my first real opportunity getting live reps. So being a few games in now, everything's more and more clear, more and more comfortable, and (I'm) able to into a rhythm with this offense."
Third-down efficiency continues to be a worrisome area for the 49ers offense. Despite totaling nearly 500 yards of offense, San Francisco still went just 2-of-9 on third down. Conversely, New Orleans converted on 11-of-17 third-down attempts.
"We had a lot of opportunities out there where a few different plays here and there, it's a different ballgame," Kaepernick said. "Those are things that moving forward we have to correct. Those are the corrections we have to make that make a difference whether you win or lose football games."
Kaepernick and the 49ers will go on the road in Week 10 for a divisional matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
