The stuff of legend

Kittle’s prodigious impact on 49ers evident after his return

- Craig Massei

Slipping deftly out of the slot in a three-wide formation, then juking a defender at the line of scrimmage before cutting left to gain separation, George Kittle looked back and reached out for a fourth-down pass from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo with the game — and perhaps a memorable 49ers season — on the line.

Kittle has been there before, in this kind of crucial situation, but this time it was more, this time it was special, this time it was everything. With a sellout crowd of 73,038 in the Louisiana Superdome thundering as loud as is humanly possible in the game’s final seconds, Kittle had the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff race in his grasp and in his control.

Kittle, of course, knew exactly what to do with the moment.

He certainly knew what to do with the football. Kittle pulled it into his soft hands, then broke a diving tackle attempt by New Orleans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson at the first-down marker before surging into the open field.

Kittle got the first down in this momentous battle between NFC frontrunners who shared the best record in the conference two weeks into December.

And then Kittle got more. A lot more. “George is a beast with the ball in his hands,”

Garoppolo said. “So it’s just got him the ball in space and let him go to work.”

George The Beast certainly went to work on the New Orleans defense. And after a stupendous play that will now have a place in 49ers lore, the Play of the Game to decide the Game of the Year in the 2019 NFL season, the 49ers were 53 yards down the field and in position to kick the game-winning field goal in a season-defining 48-46 win over the Saints.

Kittle’s big play was the stuff of legend, the kind of legend that just keeps growing and Kittle just keeps adding to in just his third season in the NFL.