George Kittle is willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship. He has come close during his time with the San Francisco 49ers, but never reached that highly-sought mountaintop. The team has appeared in three of the last four NFC Championship Games, and reached the Super Bowl once during those runs. However, it has been denied from an appearance in the big game over the past two seasons.
Kittle is motivated to bring a sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Bay Area. He's reminded of that goal every time he steps foot into the 49ers facilities in Santa Clara.
"I've had pretty much the same motivation every year," Kittle recently told Sky Sports (h/t to Jordan Elliott of NBC Sports Bay Area). "I walk in this building every day, and there's five Super Bowl trophies lined up there. I walk past them every single day. We play the game to win. All the accolades and all that stuff, it is what it is. It's fun. It's fun to be an NFL football player, but you play to win.
"And so, yes, I'm very motivated to win. This team is hungry. This team is motivated. And it's fun to be a part of an organization that has won the past. We have great players a part of this organization. We had great players then, we have great players now. So, yes, we're hungry, and we're getting ready to roll."
🗣️ "I walk past those five Super Bowl trophies every day. This team is hungry, this team is motivated."
Tight end George Kittle says the 49ers are ready to mount another Super Bowl charge this season. pic.twitter.com/4kp4oYNhrs
— Sky Sports NFL (@SkySportsNFL) September 4, 2023
Things didn't end the way Kittle and the 49ers hoped last season. It wasn't just losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. It was how they lost. Both quarterbacks, including rookie sensation Brock Purdy, suffered injuries, leaving the Niners unable to throw the football, and ending their lofty Super Bowl dreams for that season.
"A lot of emotions," Kittle responded when asked what was going through his mind as that game unfolded. "When it first happened ... love [then-backup QB] Josh Johnson. He was a guy who'd been on our team before, knew our offense. So, hey, we had to make a couple of plays. It might be a little bit more difficult, but we have a shot now.
"When he [exited] with his concussion and Brock came in with an unthrowable arm, it was kind of like, 'Are you kidding me?' You work all year, win 12 in a row, on a hot streak. And I'm not guaranteeing a victory or anything like that if he stays healthy, but I think our shot would have been a little bit better."
It's just not how Kittle hoped the season would end. The 49ers overcame so much, losing two starting quarterbacks before turning to an unproven rookie in Purdy. Yet, the team kept winning. The locker room had no doubt that they were still the best team in football. So the circumstances of that NFC title game will always leave Kittle and his teammates wondering what could have been.
Kittle added, "It stinks. But hey, life stinks sometimes. It's just about how you respond. And so, yeah, at the time, sucked really bad. I took, whatever, [a] couple of weeks I needed to get over it, and here I am ready to roll again, baby."
