A playoff rematch of the 2023 NFC Championship Game went the 49ers’ way, but it was nonetheless tainted by a first-half injury with an eerily similar feel.
Niners tight end George Kittle suffered a torn Achilles in the second quarter of Sunday’s 23-19 wild-card win over the Eagles and will miss the remainder of the playoffs, head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters postgame.
“Losing Kittle early in the game was obviously a depressing play for everybody when you see that, and guys stepped it up and still made plays and competed,” Shanahan said.” To find a way to win that game, we thought it would be a grind-it game, that’s how we say it, and it was. Our defense allowed it to be that way.”
The seven-time Pro Bowler was being tackled by safety Marcus Epps toward the sideline when his calf appeared to pop as he planted it in the ground. He went down and received medical attention before being helped onto a cart.
Quarterback Brock Purdy and other teammates tapped him on the helmet as Kittle was carted into the locker room, reminiscent of the last time these two teams met in the postseason and Purdy suffered an early elbow injury.
In the ’23 NFC title game, Purdy went down on the team’s first drive, taking the wind out of the 49ers’ sails before an eventual 31-7 loss.
This time around, calamity struck on the team’s fourth possession, though the injury occurred on Kittle’s first catch of the day — and San Francisco importantly went on to win.
At the time of his departure, the 49ers were trailing, 13-7. They went on to finish the drive with a field goal. As Shanahan alluded to, a defensive struggle ensued, with San Francisco trailing and struggling to find much traction sans Kittle until the final frame. With their playoff lives on the line in crunch time, the resilient Niners found a way, converting two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to come back and stun the Eagles to move onto the Divisional Round, where they’ll face a familiar foe in the Seahawks.
Victory aside, such a gut-sinking injury to one of the team’s biggest stars is unfortunately familiar to the Niners both in years past facing the Eagles and in the narrative of their 2025 season.
The sixth-seeded 49ers reached the postseason despite dealing with myriad injuries on both sides of the ball. Purdy missed eight games due to a turf toe injury, and his pass-catching corps seemed to be a revolving door of walking wounded. Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, the defense’s two most vital players, played a combined nine games, with Bosa out for the season and Warner banking on a deep playoff run for a chance at returning.
Kittle, injured now again with something that will require a lengthy recovery, sat for six weeks earlier this season.
San Francisco has overcome it all to this point, but will need to keep digging deep still three wins away from a Lombardi Trophy.
