NFL-49ers' Kittle says sour taste from first loss will fuel team

Oct 25, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) reacts with teammates after a catch against the Atlanta Falcons during the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Oct 27 (Reuters) - San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle ⁠said the team will carry the sting of their first loss of the season into their bye week, a mood he believes could help sharpen a battered ⁠roster that have built their identity around physical football.

The 49ers returned from Atlanta disappointed with their 29-20 loss to the Falcons on Sunday but encouraged by ‌the prospect of getting several injured players back after the break, Kittle told Reuters in a Zoom interview on Monday.

"Losing is not fun," Kittle said. "But it is really hard to win in football. Everybody's a professional, everybody's talented."

But he said the defeat could give San Francisco a needed edge during the now 6-1 team's time away from the field.

"Instead of, 'Hey, we're going on this bye week, we're just going to go enjoy ourselves, forget about everything,' you're ​kind of sitting there angry for the entire week," Kittle said.

"And I think that'll be good for our ⁠football team."

The loss came as San Francisco have been hit hard ⁠by injuries, particularly at wide receiver.

Kittle said the team had effectively lost all of their training-camp receivers, an unusual strain on an offense that has relied heavily on its remaining ⁠playmakers. ‌Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel were among those who were unavailable on Sunday but expected to return in Week Nine.

Still, the veteran tight end said the 49ers' depth — especially contributions from recent draft classes — has bolstered his confidence that the team can contend for a championship.

"We have young players who are out there making plays," Kittle said, pointing to ⁠rookies and younger players rotating along the defensive line and contributing elsewhere on defense.

"We don't have to ​win every game on the shoulders of Brock Purdy and ‌Christian McCaffrey, or Nick Bosa and Fred Warner."

The injuries, Kittle said, are partly an unavoidable consequence of how San Francisco play.

"We pride ourselves on playing a ⁠very violent game of football," he ​said. "When you turn on our tape, our whole offense, we're running off the ball, we're hitting people, we are blocking. Our defense is flying around, hitting people as hard as they possibly can."

That approach creates wear and tear over a long season, he said, but it is not something the 49ers intend to change.

"We sit on violence, and that's the way that we think football should be played," Kittle said. "I wouldn't ⁠change how we play because that's what makes us us."

Kittle pointed to the 2021 season as ​an example of a San Francisco team overcoming early injuries. The 49ers started that year 2-4 before winning eight straight games to reach the playoffs and advancing to the NFC Championship Game.

This season has also presented a personal challenge for Kittle, who said he spent most of the close season recovering from an Achilles injury. Rather than his usual summer regimen of route-running and blocking ⁠work, he said his rehabilitation consisted largely of calf raises for months.

Kittle said he did not return to practice until shortly before the team's trip to Australia to open the season, leaving him little time to regain football conditioning before playing again.

"I definitely felt a lot of rust early on," he said. "But the more that I play, the more that I practice, the more I'm starting to feel like myself again."

He said he has felt closer to full football condition over the past two weeks.

"When something like that's taken away from you, it hurts," Kittle ​said. "But it also lights a fire in you every single day."

Away from the field, Kittle is working with Novartis on a ⁠prostate-cancer awareness campaign built around blood-test screening. Kittle said the partnership resonated because his grandfather had prostate cancer and survived it before later dying.

He said he was struck by learning that one in ​eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and that early detection can substantially improve outcomes.

"The point is to ‌make it comfortable," Kittle said, adding that many men are reluctant to discuss screening. "You literally just ​go get a blood test. It's so much easier and it's not daunting."

For now, though, Kittle said the 49ers will take an unhappy break and use it as motivation for the stretch ahead.

"I'll be pretty grumpy," he said. "I know I'm a positive guy, but I get grumpy too sometimes."

(Reporting by Rory CarrollEditing by Christian Radnedge)

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2026年10月25日；美国佐治亚州亚特兰大；旧金山49人队近端锋乔治·基特尔（85号）在梅赛德斯-奔驰体育场第四节比赛中接球后与队友庆祝。图片来源：Brett Davis-Imagn Images（强制署名）

10 月 27 日（路透社）——旧金山 49 人队近端锋乔治·基特尔表示，球队将带着赛季首败的苦涩心情进入轮空周，他认为这种情绪有助于磨砺这支以强硬球风著称、饱受摧残的球队。

49人队周日以20-29输给猎鹰队，球队从亚特兰大返回后感到失望，但基特尔周一在接受路透社Zoom采访时表示，球队对几名受伤球员在假期后回归的前景感到鼓舞。

“输球当然不好受，”基特尔说。“但在足球比赛中赢球真的很难。每个人都是职业球员，每个人都很有天赋。”

但他表示，这场失利可能会让目前战绩为 6 胜 1 负的旧金山队在休赛期间获得急需的优势。

“你不是想着‘嘿，我们这周轮空，好好享受一下，忘掉一切’，而是整整一周都闷闷不乐地坐在那里，”基特尔说。

“我认为这对我们的足球队来说是件好事。”

这场失利正值旧金山队遭遇严重伤病困扰之际，尤其是外接手位置。

基特尔表示，球队实际上失去了所有训练营的接球手，这对一支严重依赖剩余进攻核心的球队来说，无疑是雪上加霜。迈克·埃文斯和迪博·塞缪尔等球员周日缺席了训练，但预计将在第九周复出。

不过，这位经验丰富的近端锋表示，49人队的阵容深度——尤其是近几届选秀球员的贡献——增强了他对球队争夺总冠军的信心。

“我们有很多年轻球员在场上有所作为，”基特尔说道，他指着在防守线上轮换的新秀和年轻球员，以及在防守其他位置做出贡献的球员。

“我们不需要依靠布罗克·珀迪和克里斯蒂安·麦卡弗里，或者尼克·博萨和弗雷德·华纳来赢得每一场比赛。”

基特尔表示，这些伤病在某种程度上是旧金山队比赛方式不可避免的后果。

“我们以打法凶狠著称，”他说。“你看我们的比赛录像，我们的进攻组全员都在无球跑动，冲撞对手，积极阻挡。我们的防守组也全程飞奔，拼尽全力地撞击对手。”

他表示，这种做法在漫长的赛季中会造成损耗，但49人队并不打算改变这一点。

“我们崇尚暴力，而且我们认为足球就应该这样踢，”基特尔说。“我不会改变我们的比赛方式，因为这正是我们之所以成为我们的原因。”

基特尔指出，2021赛季就是旧金山49人队克服早期伤病困扰的一个例子。那一年，49人队开局2胜4负，之后连赢八场，最终打入季后赛并晋级NFC冠军赛。

本赛季对基特尔来说也是一次个人挑战。他表示，休赛期的大部分时间他都在养伤，以恢复跟腱伤势。与往常夏季的跑位和阻挡训练不同，他表示，他的康复训练主要以提踵练习为主，持续了数月之久。

基特尔表示，直到球队前往澳大利亚开启新赛季前不久，他才恢复训练，这让他几乎没有时间在再次上场比赛前恢复足球状态。

“一开始我确实感觉很生疏，”他说。“但是我打得越多，练习得越多，就越感觉自己找回了状态。”

他说，过去两周他感觉自己离完全恢复到足球竞技状态更近了一步。

“当失去这样的东西时，你会感到痛苦，”基特尔说。“但这也会每天在你心中点燃一团火。”

在球场之外，基特尔正与诺华公司合作开展一项以血液筛查为核心的前列腺癌防治宣传活动。基特尔表示，这项合作之所以引起他的共鸣，是因为他的祖父曾患前列腺癌，并战胜了病魔，但最终还是去世了。

他说，得知八分之一的男性会被诊断出患有前列腺癌，而且早期发现可以大大改善治疗效果，这让他感到震惊。

“关键是要让这个过程变得轻松自在，”基特尔说，并补充道，许多男性都不愿谈论筛查。“你只需要去做个血液检查就行了。这简单得多，也并不令人畏惧。”

不过，基特尔表示，目前49人队将经历一段不愉快的休赛期，并将此作为接下来赛程的动力。

“我会有点暴躁，”他说。“我知道我平时是个乐观的人，但我有时候也会发脾气。”

（Rory Carroll报道，Christian Radnedge编辑）

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