With Blaine Gabbert’s grip on the starting quarterback job waning by the week, a report surfaced from Matt Maiocco of CSN Bay Area Friday saying third-string quarterback Christian Ponder is gaining favor in the 49ers’ locker room.

“I think we’re going to look at everything. I mean, we’re 1-4,” 49ers coach Chip Kelly said after losing 33-21 to the Arizona Cardinals Thursday. “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.”

Gabbert completed 18 of 31 against the Cardinals for 162 yards with one touchdown pass, a touchdown run and two interceptions. He had a 56.1 passer rating. The 49ers are on a four-game losing streak.

Kelly has said over again Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick are his two best quarterbacks. He’s made good on that declaration by having those two be the only active quarterbacks on the active 46-man rosters for all five games in 2016.

From the report:

While the most obvious move would be to promote Colin Kaepernick into the starting role, sources told CSNBayArea.com on Friday morning that there is some support among the team’s offensive players for Christian Ponder to move ahead of both Gabbert and Kaepernick. “Ponder is the best option for quarterback on the roster,” said a locker-room source.

Ponder was a late addition to the 49ers in August after Thad Lewis suffered a torn ACL in the first preseason game. He joined the team Aug. 16, well after the offseason program and more than two weeks into training camp.

Ponder played well enough during the exhibition season to unseat sixth-round pick Jeff Driskel, who was claimed by the Cincinnati Bengals after being released during final cuts.

In three preseason games, Ponder completed 16 of 25 (64 percent) with one touchdown and one interception, good for a passer rating of 85.1. That mark ranked second among 49ers’ quarterbacks, only behind Gabbert’s 90.3.

Part of the reason Kaepernick hasn’t ascended to the starting role, Kelly insists, is not being physically ready. Kelly said Kaepernick is not at 225 pounds, the weight he played at when he was last successful in 2013, after having three surgeries since last November on his left shoulder, right hand and left knee.

Kaepernick wasn’t cleared to fully participate in football activities until the start of training camp in late July after missing the bulk of the offseason program, in addition to requesting a trade from the team in February.

Kelly said Sept. 28: “(Kaepernick) really couldn’t lift. He couldn’t, sometimes when you have an upper body injury, you could still lift with your legs or if you have a lower body injury, you could still lift with your upper body. He had an upper body injury and a lower body injury. So, therefore, he wasn’t allowed to do from a rehab standpoint because of the injuries where he was.

“So, what his state is now is not his fault, it’s because he was injured. Has he been cleared to play medically? Yeah, he can go play in a game right now. But, is he the same Colin Kaepernick that he was in 2013? I think he said yesterday that he’s not that right now. So, that’s the only point I’m making. It’s got no indication of first-team, second-team, how could he be cleared to play this? He was cleared to play when he got back and he’s played in games for us, but he’s not the same guy right now that he was in 2013. That’s the only point I’m trying to make.”

The ascension of Ponder over Kaepernick and Gabbert would certainly be an interesting wrinkle to the 49ers’ ongoing quarterback issues.

But regardless of which signal caller plays, it doesn’t appear Kelly has a long-term answer to rely on. The likely scenario is San Francisco finding its next face of the franchise behind center in the upcoming NFL draft.