San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle spent a month on injured reserve this season, recovering from a calf injury that kept him sidelined in October. When told he looked as though he was fighting through something the last two games, Kittle commented that it's been a lot longer than that.
"I've been dealing with s--- since Week 1, excuse my language," Kittle told reporters after Sunday's heartbreaking 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game. "It's football. You just deal with it. And I'll just say it was a lower-body injury, the NHL life."
Most players will admit that everyone is dealing with something by the end of the long 17-game season. Those teams in the playoffs push through pain and discomfort for a chance to play on sports' biggest stage—the Super Bowl. The 49ers were among the last four teams left in contention until Sunday.
Entering as a Wild Card, San Francisco defied the odds and upset a couple of division winners—the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers—on the way to the NFC Championship Game. Unfortunately, Kittle wasn't the only one dealing with discomfort.
Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers' polarizing quarterback, fought through a torn ligament in his right thumb, suffered in Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans. He wanted to keep his team's run alive. After all, it was probably his last run with this locker room. Every throw was painful, though.
"I can't believe this s--- held up, to be completely honest with you," Garoppolo admitted to Michael Silver of Bally Sports after the game. "The thumb, the shoulder … all of it. It was one thing after another. … Every time I threw. It was a lot."
Trent Williams, the anchor of the offensive line, fought through a high-ankle sprain. Before this season, he had never won a playoff game. This season, Williams found himself on the doorstep of a Super Bowl.
"It was really difficult, yeah," Williams responded when asked how challenging it was to play through the injury. "It was a lot to deal with, but I just couldn't imagine missing this game. So I just tried to do everything I could."
Williams shouldn't need offseason surgery, so long as he didn't do further damage to his ankle during the game.
"Hopefully, I didn't make it any worse," Williams said. "Hopefully, it will just be something that will probably take about a month off to have to heal, so I don't have any lingering issues. But it's football."
