The San Francisco 49ers are alive and well.
Rumors of their demise proved exaggerated following a 36-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, a victory that vaulted the Niners back into first place atop the NFC West.
And if any one player deserves credit for keeping the reigning NFC champions afloat in a season thus far marred by injuries, inconsistency and fourth-quarter defensive collapses – well, look no further than All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
“Man, he’s a baller,” San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy said of Kittle on Prime Video’s postgame show, “TNF Nightcap” after throwing him a pair of touchdown passes.
“Obviously, when you get the ball in his hands, he can do what he can – break tackles, he’s electric and just explosive, man, for a tight end. … He’s always open – you give him a chance, and he goes and makes the rest happen.”
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Kittle gathered in a 10-yard scoring pass early in the third quarter, nicely getting both feet down just inside the pylon before his momentum took him out of bounds. On his 9-yard TD midway through the fourth quarter he maneuvered into heavy Seattle coverage, giving Purdy just enough of a target inside the goal line on what proved to be the game-winning score.
Kittle, who missed the Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams with a sore hamstring – one of the 49ers’ two defeats this season when they surrendered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead – is nevertheless tied for the league lead with five TD grabs.
“We talk about it all the time, and it’s something we’ve had to get better at this season,’ Purdy said. “Coach always says, no matter what the score is, our offense should be able to put up points when our team needs it.”
Kittle has clearly accepted that challenge, scoring in each of the past four games. He’s currently ranked by the analytics website Pro Football Focus as the NFL’s No. 3 tight end overall.
But for one of the team’s captains, a player who’s been critical to a group that’s reached four NFC title games and two Super Bowls over the previous five seasons, this year is personal to Kittle. And he’s aware the Niners could look significantly different in a year, when Purdy, now in his third season, is finally eligible for the gargantuan extension that’s likely to force fundamental changes to what’s arguably the league’s most talented roster. For San Francisco’s current nucleus, this is probably the last shot to win the organization’s first Super Bowl in 30 years.
‘It is incredibly important, it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid. It’s something that I would like to achieve. I’d love to stand up there holding that Lombardi,” Kittle told USA TODAY Sports last month while promoting DirecTV’s streaming service, which doesn’t require a satellite to watch the NFL or other sports.
(And while Kittle enjoys using DirecTV’s “Nothing On Your Roof” capability to watch his alma mater, the University of Iowa, and likes catching Hawkeyes alum Caitlin Clark when she’s in action, his wife didn’t need to use it Thursday night, when he paid her a box visit after scoring his second touchdown.)
“You don’t really have to inspire me to go play football, like I don’t need a pep talk or anything like that. I love the game, it’s absolutely incredible – football, to me, is its own living, breathing organism. And you have to respect it, you have to put the work in, and you have to put the grind in, otherwise it knows you’re cheating the game. I just try to put that work in every single day,’ he said.
‘I know that when I am healthy, I’m a helluva football player. When I’m not healthy, I’m still pretty damn good.’
And if the accolades, which include five Pro Bowl nods, don’t bear that out, the numbers continue to do so. Despite missing a game, no tight end in the NFL has more than Kittle’s 28 receptions.
He also doesn’t think a team now battling injuries to key players like All-Pro tailback Christian McCaffrey, kicker Jake Moody and Pro Bowl corner Charvarius Ward was set back over the summer when left tackle Trent Williams and wideout Brandon Aiyuk held out seeking raises that were eventually granted before the regular season started.
‘I feel like we have a very similar energy to how it was last year – like, our team’s still here, our foundation is still here, our core group of guys is still here,” said Kittle. “We’re so incredibly hungry because we haven’t achieved our dreams of winning the Super Bowl.
‘When you have your core guys, I believe that we can really win a lot of football games.’
Still, that’s been an issue lately.
Defensive end Nick Bosa acknowledged the 49ers treated the Seattle game like a must-win affair. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said after Thursday’s victory that the team was still “sick about those two losses,” which occurred to divisional opponents (Rams, Cardinals), and admitted that maybe a perennial powerhouse had gotten “a little spoiled” and “too relaxed.”
With San Francisco level again at 3-3, the schedule isn’t about to let up, the next game a Super Bowl rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs followed by dates with the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And maybe no one understands the gravity of the 49ers’ current opportunity more than Kittle, an eight-year veteran who turned 31 on Wednesday.
‘That was one thing I learned,” said Kittle. “When I was a rookie, I didn’t understand the sense of urgency, and maybe not as much my second year, either. But when you’ve played with guys like Joe Staley … Richard Sherman towards the end of his career, (then) you understand the sense of urgency.
“I feel like I’ve understood the sense of urgency since 2019 – like how you want to win, and you need to win if you’re gonna do it, because rosters change so much every single year. I still feel fantastic, and I’m gonna play until the wheels off or they kick me out of the league.
‘I’m gonna take advantage of every single day.’
Fortunately for the 49ers, he’s been more than true to his word.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
