The San Francisco 49ers lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football to the tune of 30-28 after a game-winning 51-yard field goal by kicker Mason Crosby as time expired.
One of the key plays for the 49ers down the stretch came on 3rd & 10 at their own 25, when George Kittle caught a pass over the middle from Jimmy Garoppolo and muscled past defenders for a huge 39-yard gain, setting up an eventual touchdown.
Kittle, who caught seven passes for 92 yards, was second on the team in targets with nine, just behind Deebo Samuel, who was thrown to ten times on Sunday, hauling in five of those passes.
After the game, Kittle, who's often seen as highly-spirited, encouraged his team to swallow the loss and move on to next weekend by striving to get better week-by-week.
"You know, what I said after the game was take 24 hours, mourn the loss, do whatever you want with it," Kittle told NBC Sports after the loss. "We come in [next week and] we're gonna watch the tape. Look yourself in the mirror, see what you can get better at, and then bring that into next week."
Kittle is going to brush this loss off and move on to the Seahawks next week pic.twitter.com/syxzB1E16F
— 49ers on NBCS (@NBCS49ers) September 27, 2021
While it's important to fix the mistakes from the last game, Kittle looked forward to next week, where he plans to whoop the Seahawks at home in the back-end of their two-game home stretch.
"You know, whatever you didn't bring last week, bring something new to the table, get better at one thing this week," Kittle continued. "We have the damn Seahawks coming in, [so] I'm excited about that. We have the division rival [and] I'm really excited to get a chance to whoop up on them. I know they're gonna bring all their energy and all their best guys here, so it's gonna be a hell of a battle. If you're not in the right mindset for that one, you're not on the right football team."
After the loss to the Packers, the 49ers are now 3rd in the NFC West with a 2-1 record, as the Cardinals and Rams both remain 3-0 following their wins earlier on Sunday.
Now, the 49ers will turn their attention to the Seahawks, who are currently 1-2, coming off of a 30-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and hold fourth place in the NFC West. That game will be an afternoon game next weekend at Levi's.