Just a few days ago, the San Francisco 49ers suffered a brutal loss against the Kansas City Chiefs in their high-octane Super Bowl matchup. And now, a few days after the game, a video from NFL Films reveals a costly mistake committed by the 49ers tight end George Kittle.
During the first half of the game, Brock Purdy and the Niners were tearing apart the Chiefs’ defense even though they failed to score in the first quarter of the game. During the first quarter of the game, when the Niners were facing a first and 10 from the Chiefs’ 29-yard line, tight end George Kittle was assigned with run-blocking duties for his running back Christian McCaffrey.
Kittle successfully completed his assignment by blocking the Chiefs’ defensive end George Karlaftis and clearing the way for his running back. However, after the block, he was focused on trolling the pass rusher, leading to him missing a fumble that happened behind his back.
Karlaftis, who was looking straight at the fumble, managed to jump on the ball and recovered it, resulting in a turnover by the 49ers. The short video of the incident went viral and accumulated more than 4.1 million views within hours. Check out the footage attached below.
Nonetheless, even if Kittle weren’t playing around, it’d still be tough to recover the fumble since it happened behind his back. So, it really wouldn’t have made any difference. Besides, after the fumble, the 49ers went on to score 10 unanswered points in the first half. However, some NFL fans thought Kittle should’ve been focused on the game instead of messing around.
George Kittle did not play with vengeance last Sunday
Back in 2020, the 49ers went against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVI and suffered a 31-20 loss. Towards the end of the game, the 49ers tight end George Kittle vowed to return to the Super Bowl ‘with a vengeance.’
George Kittle (via Imago)Exactly four years later, he returned to the Super Bowl with the Niners and had an opportunity to take revenge as they faced the same team that defeated them in 2020. However, Kittle failed to use the opportunity to take revenge and got defeated for the second time.
In the game, Kittle only had 2 catches for 4 receiving yards. He disappeared during the biggest game of the year and couldn’t help the Niners win a championship ring. Nonetheless, now, the Niners are in off-season mode trying to figure out their flaws ahead of free agency and the NFL Draft.
