San Francisco 49ers' George Kittle explains why his Super Bowl injury was a blessing in disguise

It's no secret that George Kittle was playing hurt during the San Francisco 49ers' run to Super Bowl 58 last season.

The All-Pro tight end underwent core muscle surgery after the season and recently revealed to reporters that he had been dealing with that issue since around Week 9 or 10 of the 2023 regular season.

During an appearance on 'Bussin' With the Boys', Kittle provided a more pointed assessment of the problems he dealt with en route to a second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons.

"I was crushed, I had a tough go there for a little bit," Kittle said when asked about being banged up towards the end of the season.

"I had several things. I don’t know what I would get the Niners in trouble for. I think we reported everything as it went but like the NFC Championship Game, third play of the game someone stepped up on my foot and I got rolled up on and I tore the MCL of my big toe. That was a tough one.

"Right after the Super Bowl I re-fractured a rib, I had my shoulder and then I had core surgery and my toe. I was laying there like ‘alright, deep breath, we’re going to figure this one out’. I’m laying there like ‘holy s---, this is going to be a tough bounce back’. 

"It was tough but I’m feeling great now, which is fantastic. I’d say I’m almost back to 100 percent. I’ve got to gain 10 pounds or so. After the Super Bowl I lost 30 pounds, I couldn’t do upper body because of my shoulder and my rib, and I couldn’t do lower because of my core surgery. I didn’t lift [weights] from the Super Bowl until almost mid-March."

Despite the toe injury, Kittle still made a clutch catch and run on a go-ahead drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions as the 49ers completed an historic comeback, but he was greatly hindered by injury in the Super Bowl defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kittle hurt his shoulder in the overtime defeat, meaning he was in and out of the game and limited to one catch for three yards, though that was a fourth-down conversion that set up a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown.

But there was an unexpected bright side to that particular injury.

Kittle said: "My shoulder’s been messed up since high school, luckily I play tight end so I don’t ever have to throw a football or anything like that, I’m just blocking, so my shoulders don’t bug me too often, but I hurt my shoulder in the Super Bowl. AC Sprain, chipped a bone and now that it’s mostly healed, I can now throw a football again. 

"It’s like a kid that gets hit in the head and you wake up with a superpower. It doesn’t make any sense to me but I started throwing a football and I started feeling better and I can actually zip it. My labrum doesn’t hurt anymore when I throw. I get hurt but I can play catch now with my kid at some point."

The 49ers are unlikely to call on Kittle for any trick plays anytime soon, but at least he can take a positive from a painful and heartbreaking end to a campaign that was one play away from ending in the ultimate glory.