SANTA CLARA — George Kittle blamed the 49ers’ loss Sunday on a lack of intensity, but it was only a one-game indictment.
“I don’t think it’s an overall issue,” Kittle said Tuesday. “I bet you there are a lot of different reasons for a lot of different guys that the intensity didn’t show. But you could feel it on the whole sideline, whether it was coaches, players, staff, it just felt different.”
It felt different for another reason, too, with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo relying on his star tight end more than ever. Kittle hauled in a career-high 13 passes for 134 yards and was targeted on exactly half of Garoppolo’s 34 pass attempts.