George Kittle returned from the Injured Reserve list last Sunday after missing three games with a lingering calf injury he sustained during the 49ers' victory over the Detroit Lions in Week 1.
The star tight end came to play in his return, as he caught six passes for team-high 101 yards and a touchdown, while also coughing up a fumble early. Although the turnover was costly in the early stages of the game, Kittle proved to be a reliable weapon for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who had his second straight good game.
Despite the performances of Kittle and Garoppolo, the 49ers lost embarrassingly to an Arizona team without Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, and A.J. Green, with a final score of 31-17.
Earlier this week, the 49ers tight end joined The Rich Eisen Show and spoke on the disappointing season that the 49ers have, pointing out that the team just hasn't played to their expectations.
"We just need to play better," Kittle told Eisen. "That's all it is, at the end of the day. You look at the tape of every single game that we've lost, and even the games that we've won, I just don't feel like we've played at the level [or] the standard that we've set. I know we have a couple of guys that are playing consistent at a higher level. I need to elevate my game. I think everybody can just play a little bit better.
Regarding Sunday's game, Kittle highlighted the early offensive woes as game-changing mistakes, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
"You just look at it, whether it's drops, I had a bad fumble, [Brandon] Aiyuk had a bad fumble and set our defense up for failure. Hey, you've got to eliminate those mistakes to give ourselves a chance because we're not even doing that."
While much of the blame has been placed on HC Kyle Shanahan due to the lack of leadership and discipline, Kittle indicated that most of the 49ers' problems fall on lack of executing the gameplan and transitioning work on the practice field to Sundays.
"I mean, Coach Shanahan's calling plays to give us opportunities, and we're just not really taking advantage of those things. So I really just think, at the end of the day, we just need to play better. You could say focus on the little things, and go back to work, but we have been working. I think we've had a lot of really good practices. We've just got to get it to correlate to the game."
Now at 3-5, the 49ers face their toughest test all season in the 7-2 Rams at Levi's Stadium, which has not been kind to them over the past two seasons, in a Monday Night primetime showdown.
You can listen to the interview with Kittle below. The tight end discusses going up against Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Cooper Kupp, and the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers' mental toughness, Shanahan's disappointment, and more.
