'That reminds me of 2019' – George Kittle sees huge positive in 49ers' latest unconvincing win
Nobody is going to be viewing the San Francisco 49ers as more of a Super Bowl contender in the wake of their wild 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 49ers needed a 44-yard game-winning field goal from Jake Moody to overcome the Buccaneers and improve to 5-4 at end of a dramatic contest […]
Nobody is going to be viewing the San Francisco 49ers as more of a Super Bowl contender in the wake of their wild 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 49ers needed a 44-yard game-winning field goal from Jake Moody to overcome the Buccaneers and improve to 5-4 at end of a dramatic contest that saw a host of errors from San Francisco.
Moody missed three field goals, the third leading to a sideline scuffle with Deebo Samuel, and returner Jacob Cowing muffed a punt on another nightmare day for the special teams. The offense went one of three in the red zone as the 49ers continued to struggle in the congested area, while the defense was flagged for four penalties on the drive that saw the Buccaneers tie the game at 20-20.
But, even in a game riddled with miscues that was indicative of their season to this point, tight end George Kittle saw a quality reflective of the one of the two 49er teams to go to the Super Bowl under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Kittle, whose spectacular touchdown catch from Brock Purdy on a broken play gave the Niners a 20-17 lead in the fourth, told a postgame press conference: "Whenever we have these trips and we play at one o'clock, it's a 10 a.m. kickoff for us, all he [Shanahan] ever really tells us is I just want you guys to go out there, ignore the fact that it's 10 a.m. our time, and just go out there and fight and go off on every single play.
"And he was just proud of us that we showed up and we battled. It wasn't very pretty all the time. We have to score in the red zone better than that. Our defense probably, the Bucs offense was moving the ball a little bit with a couple not great special teams plays, but being able to deal with all of that and still come out with a win, that reminds me of like 2019.
"It's not gonna be pretty, but you just have to find ways to win, no matter how ugly they are sometimes. And it was just kind of fun to watch all of our receivers kind of run wild. That was really fun to see. Ricky [Pearsall] with a hell of a day and Christian McCaffrey is still pretty good at football. Good for us."
As was the case last season, the 49ers' 2019 campaign ended in Super Bowl agony at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. Right now even the most optimistic 49ers fan would probably struggle to predict them making it that far.
However, Kittle's relentless positivity is a driving force for the Niners, and if he keeps making plays akin to his circus catch down the stretch, San Francisco will probably be in a strong position to turn a largely frustrating regular season into another playoff run.
Tom Brady let the world know how he felt about Brock Purdy’s performance with understated comment in 49ers win
It’s clear he wasn’t overly impressed.
