George Kittle apparently had some additional incentive to return to the field for the 49ers’ road game against the Cardinals. Kittle, who missed San Francisco’s previous six games with a broken foot, hit four of five targets in 92 yards while the 49ers defeated the Cardinals 20-12.
In addition to helping the 49ers improve to 6-9 in the season, Kittle’s efforts undermined the Cardinals’ hopes in the playoff, as Arizona (8-7) no longer controls their own fate in the race to secure the seventh and final playoff the local NFC. The Chicago Bears, which won consecutive games after a streak of six consecutive defeats, is now in the driver’s seat to claim the final NFC playoff seat, a scenario that Kittle has not missed.
“Overall, happy for the team,” said Kittle after the game. “I’m going to say this, I grew up a Bears fan, and the fact that we helped the Bears a little bit made me a little happier. Bears!”
Although his team did not have a chance to defend the NFC title, the courage of the 49ers’ championship was on display on Saturday. Despite a long list of injuries, the 49ers received three touchdown passes from third-quarter quarterback CJ Beathard, 183 yards from Jeff Wilson, two touchdown receptions from defender Kyle Juszczyk and 14 tackles from linebacker Fred Warner, a forced fumble and a important room -down pass breakup by linebacker Fred Warner. The 49ers also received several important catches from Kittle, whose 24- and 27-yard catches made up two of San Francisco’s three touchdowns.
“Kittle, we knew that just wearing it today would help a lot,” said 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, via Cam Inman from San Jose Mercury. “What he was able to do statistically in the pass game and as always in the racing game, I can’t say enough about George.”
With the defeat, the Cardinals will need a victory over the Rams in week 17 and a defeat of the Bears against the Jaguars or the Packers to reach the playoffs. Chicago, after a 5-1 start, plummeted to 5-7 before posting consecutive wins over Texans and Vikings. A big reason for the Bears turnaround was running back David Montgomery, who ran 259 yards and three touchdowns in the last two games. Mitchell Trubisky has also been successful since returning to the starting lineup, having completed almost 74% of his passes in the last three Bears games.
While his childhood team will try to secure his second playoff spot in three years, Kittle’s current team will try to end the season on a positive note. San Francisco will end the 2020 season against the Seahawks in a game that can determine who wins AFC West.
“We are not proud of our record,” said Shanahan. “We would love to be better. But that doesn’t tell the story of who these guys are, what they’ve been through all year and how they give it all on game day.