George Kittle shines as San Francisco wins NFC West

George Kittle (Alexander Jonesi, Wikimedia Commons)

The San Francisco 49ers are the NFC West Division regular season champions following a 21-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday. A major reason for the 49ers success was the playmaking of tight end George Kittle.

The native of Madison, Wisconsin had his best game of the season. Kittle had four catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 28 yard touchdown pass from 49ers rookie quarterback Brock Purdy to open the scoring with 3:58 minutes left in the first quarter, and then a 54 yard touchdown pass from Purdy to put the 49ers up 21-3 with 47 seconds into the second half. The 54 yard touchdown catch was the longest touchdown catch by a tight end in the National Football League in 2022 according to Al Michaels of Amazon Prime.

This was the second time this season that Kittle had a multi-touchdown game. He also had four catches for 84 yards when the 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 on November 21 in Mexico City, Mexico. Kittle’s best game in 2021 also came against the Seahawks. In a 30-23 San Francisco loss in Seattle, Kittle had nine catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns on December 5. In the 2022 NFL regular season, Kittle has 46 catches for 593 yards and six touchdowns. Kittle’s 593 receiving yards are third on the 49ers behind wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk (774) and Deebo Samuel (612).

The 49ers are currently the number three seed in the NFC at 10 wins and four losses. They are behind the 12-1 Philadelphia Eagles and 10-3 Minnesota Vikings. The 49ers are behind Minnesota even though San Francisco is a +128, while Minnesota is a -1 when it comes to points for and against. In 2020, Tittle became the richest tight end in NFL history when he signed a five-year deal worth $75 million.

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