Why losing 'Superman' George Kittle to Achilles injury feels different for 49ers

PHILADELPHIA — The 2025 NFL season has battle tested the 49ers, helping them stun the Philadelphia Eagles in their 23-19 NFC Wild Card Game win on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Nothing about the season has gone to plan. First the 49ers lost Nick Bosa, then Fred Warner, not mention several games without Brock Purdy and George Kittle. Then early in the team’s first playoff game of the season, the All-Pro tight end suffered a season-ending Achilles tear. Prayers up for George Kittle pic.twitter.com/BaRVd2sWwp — FOX Sports: NFL (&commat;NFLonFOX) January 11, 2026 While the loss definitely was felt by the entire team, the group soldiered on, advancing to the next round. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who is close friends with Kittle, shared that the tight end’s attitude was what helped motivate the team in the second half.“Losing George is different,” Juszczyk said. “That’s the heart and soul of our team. He brings so much energy and just [the] incredible player that he is. That definitely hurts a lot, but even when he was down he was still positive. “I came in at half time and he was smiling and he said, ‘I’m not dead yet, man. I’ll be back. Go win it.’ And that meant a lot. Guys just continue to step up and find ways even when we lose our best players and we did enough to get a win.” Jake Tonges, who stepped in when Kittle was out with a hamstring injury in Weeks 2-6, shared that those reps helped prepare him for his number to be called in Philadelphia. The undrafted free agent only caught one of his three targets on Sunday, but it moved the sticks for a first down. “They were huge,” Tonges said of his earlier experience. “Every game I feel more and more comfortable being out there, and those reps were invaluable. Me and Luke Farrell just said, ‘All right, here we go again, we got to step up.’ ” But again, because of the 49ers’ path this season, both Tonges and Farrell did not skip a beat and stepped up in both pass protection and run blocking against the Eagles. “Super sad, obviously, you never want to lose George,” Tonges said. “But there have been situations this year where me and Luke have had to take over in his absence, so we didn’t panic at all and just said we got to go execute for this team.” Trent Williams shared that losing Kittle was surreal, because it’s like losing “Superman.” The star left tackle has been impressed with the locker room and its ability to keep pushing forward after each devastating blow. “It’d be really easy to use it as an excuse,” Williams said about the injuries. “This is finally the last straw that’s going to keep us from doing this thing, but you just can’t have that mentality. You never know when you’re going to get this opportunity. “We are in the divisional round of the playoffs. There are only so many teams left in this league and we are one of them. So we are going to go out there and give everything we got.” The left tackle himself was unsure if he would be able to survive a full game attempting to come back from a hamstring injury suffered in the first play of the 49ers’ Week 17 win over the Chicago Bears. Williams knew he had to do it for the team. Williams believes that the losses the 49ers suffered earlier in the season helped them move on quickly while in the midst of the game. The 49ers were unable to recover and regroup as quickly in Week 6 when Warner went down on the field with a broken and dislocated ankle. “Seeing Fred down, laying there on the ground, and the condition he was in, it was hard for the team to shake back out there,” Williams said. “I think that made us stronger for things like this. Kittle going down in the first half, if we didn’t have experience with that, it would have been easy for everyone to fold and nobody would have blamed us.” The 49ers will have to move on without Kittle on the field when they travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks in the NFC divisional round next week, but his spirit will most definitely be felt. Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast

Why losing ‘Superman’ George Kittle to Achilles injury feels different for 49ers

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