George Kittle wasn’t entirely absent from the 49ers’ offense for the first 12 weeks, but he was certainly falling short of the astronomical standard he set during his first four seasons as a pro. The last two weeks, however, have offered a reminder of just how dominant Kittle is and set a new bar for excellence over a short stretch.
Kittle on Sunday in a 26-23 49ers win over the Bengals caught 13 of his 15 targets for 151 yards and a touchdown. That performance came on the heels of 12 targets, nine catches, 181 yards and two touchdowns in Seattle the previous week. Over the two-game stretch Kittle earned 38 percent of the team’s targets and nearly matched his season totals prior to that point.
In Weeks 1-12, Kittle played eight games and spent three on injured reserve with a calf injury. In those games he hauled in 35 of 49 targets for 425 yards and three touchdowns. He capped the slow first eight contests with one catch for 13 yards in a Week 12 win over the Vikings.
Then the switch flipped.
In Weeks 13-14 he caught 22 of 27 balls thrown his way and racked up 332 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor addressed his team’s inability to stop Kittle during the 49ers’ come-from-behind overtime win: “We tried everything.”
Everything isn’t typically enough to slow down Kittle when he’s rolling. He built his reputation on being a tenacious run blocker whose physicality makes him nigh impossible to bring down in the open field. He’s been exactly that since the calendar turned to December. An injury helped facilitate a slow start to 2021 for him, but a banged up Deebo Samuel opened the door for him the last two weeks and he kicked the door off its hinges with a pair of vintage performances.
Per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner, Kittle became the second tight end in NFL history to have consecutive games with 150-plus receiving yards. The other was Broncos TE Shannon Sharpe in 1996. Kittle’s 151 yards also marked his fourth-career game with 150-plus receiving yards – tying him with Kellen Winslow Sr. for the second-most by a tight end in the Super Bowl era.
If the 49ers are going to dig deep and find the consistency they’ve lacked offensively this season, it’s going to require more outings like the last two from Kittle.