The San Francisco 49ers have nothing but pride to play for in their final two games of the season but, from an individual perspective, there is still plenty riding on them for All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
Kittle has been the primary bright spot for the Niners in a lost season, with the five-time Pro Bowler consistently writing his name in the history books with a string of impressive performances.
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And he can claim more history this week as the 49ers host the Lions in Week 17, in a rematch of last season’s NFC Championship Game.
After racking up 106 receiving yards in last week’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, Kittle is just 33 yards shy of 1,000 for the season.
It would mark the fourth 1,000-yard campaign of his career, with Kittle on the cusp of joining only four other tight ends (Travis Kelce – 7, Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten – All 4) in achieving that feat.
On top of that, Kittle would join Jerry Rice (12) and Terrell Owens (5) as the only players in franchise history with four such seasons.
While players often dismiss the significance of such achievements, Kittle is happy to talk about celebrating them.
“Any time you can get any of those, and you can achieve those goals, regardless what’s happening in the season, that’s always a good thing,” Kittle said.
“”I would much rather be winning football games, but to have that as a cherry on top is awesome.
“And just, the more seasons that you can stack up like that, the more fun things you can do down the road.”
On his legacy and how he compares to other franchise greats, Kittle added: “I’ll look back on that whenever I’m done playing.
“It is what it is, but I’m just very excited that I’ve got to spend eight years with the San Francisco 49ers; hopefully, continue to play here because it’s a storied franchise. And hopefully, can eventually catch [Terrell Owens].
“I don’t think I’ll ever catch Jerry Rice on anything, but that’s totally fine. I’m okay with that. I don’t think I want to play that long.”
Kittle’s individual success won’t remove the disappointment of a first losing season since 2020, but the fan favorite’s pursuit of more history gives 49ers fans something to cheer for at the end of a season in which there have been few reasons to celebrate.