George Kittle will not be in uniform when the San Francisco 49ers face the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC divisional round.
The seven-time Pro Bowl tight end was carted off the field in the second quarter of Sunday’s NFC wild-card matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. Kittle was later diagnosed with an Achilles injury.
Despite Kittle’s injury, the 49ers held off a late rally to upset the defending champion Eagles. His wife, Claire, later shared a message of heartbreak but also optimism about his recovery.
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"Disbelief and stillness were all I felt as I yelled, get up, get up, over and over again. He always gets up. He’s George — he can do all things. He just does it. It hurts. There’s no preparing for it. I love this man with everything I have in me. He is a unicorn in this world, and he will be back stronger and better than ever before," Claire captioned an Instagram post showing her and the 49ers star in the training room and on the sidelines at Lincoln Financial Field.
49ERS STAR GEORGE KITTLE REFLECTS ON SEASON-ENDING INJURY: 'FOOTBALL SUCKS SOMETIMES'
"The mind of a heartbroken athlete is a determined one. He is un-(expletive)-able, as is this entire team. I’m proud of these guys and the rally-together grit they fight with each week. It’s a special year, you can feel that and we’re not done yet. Thank you for loving G and carrying some of this pain for us," she wrote.
George responded to Claire’s post with his own message of gratitude, commenting, "You’re the best teammate for this journey."
Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of Kittle’s teammate Kyle Juszczyk, also chimed in, writing, "Forever proud to be part of this fam! For 85!!"
Kittle dealt with injuries during the regular season, which limited him to 11 games. He still recorded 628 receiving yards and hauled in seven touchdowns.
The Niners will also be without star defensive players Nick Bosa and Fred Warner when they kick off against the Seahawks Saturday. San Francisco Pro Bowl offensive lineman Trent Williams said this season’s injuries built resiliency.
"I think that made us stronger for stuff like this," Williams said. "Kittle going down in the first half. I think if we didn’t have experience with that, it would have been easy for everybody to fold, and nobody would have blamed us. They would say, ‘Hey, they don’t have this player, don’t have that player. They probably should lose.’"
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