National Football League

Why George Kittle is key to solving 49ers' red-zone woes without Christian McCaffrey

Published Oct. 17, 2024 12:22 p.m. ET

Ever the showman, George Kittle soared through the air during pregame warm-ups, dunking an imaginary basketball over the goalpost to the delight of San Francisco 49ers' fans, who were egging him on from the stands.

The flashy move was a foreshadowing of things to come two weeks ago against the Arizona Cardinals. Kittle would score in the same end zone on a 4-yard pass from quarterback Brock Purdy.

Overall, however, scoring in the red zone has been problematic for a team that has yet to click on all cylinders offensively. The 49ers had the No. 1-ranked red-zone offense a year ago at 67.1%. But through the first six weeks of this season, they are tied for No. 25 in the NFL at 44.4%.

Of course, the 49ers are missing last year's NFL Offensive Player of the Year, do-it-all running back Christian McCaffrey. Out since the start of the season with Achilles tendinitis, McCaffrey led the league in total red-zone touchdowns in 2023 with 18.

With McCaffrey's return date still uncertain, Purdy and the 49ers have leaned more on Kittle. The dynamic tight end leads the NFL with 10 catches and five touchdowns in the red zone through six games. He has scored touchdowns in four straight games.

Kittle will need to be at his best on Sunday when the 49ers host the Kansas City Chiefs. The defending Super Bowl champs are tied for No. 10 in the league in red-zone defense (46.7%).

Kittle was particularly effective in San Francisco's road victory last week against the Seattle Seahawks. He had two touchdowns in the red zone — a toe-tapper on an out route along the sideline and a pinpoint laser by Purdy over the middle of the field.

"Both touchdowns were just a trust factor," Purdy said. "Something that we've continued to grow at throughout the offseason and throughout the games that we've played together."

San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan said the touchdowns are part of his offense's evolution in that area of the field without McCaffrey.

"The hard thing with the red zone, there's not one thing," Shanahan said postgame on Sunday. "There's a few plays [Purdy] could have been more decisive on and had, but that's not the whole red-zone struggles. But when you struggle running the ball, [don't] have a lot of great looks and then you miss a few that we could have scored on — Brock's always going to own up to that stuff. But that wasn't really the theme. He was real decisive today, made two big-time throws there on third down.

"It was a step in the right direction."

While Kittle is being used more near the end zone in the passing game, San Francisco still needs to get Jordan Mason and the running game going more consistently in that area of the field. Mason is tied for the league lead with 26 carries for 75 rushing yards and three scores in the red zone. But he also lost a fumble that led to the late-game loss to the Cardinals in Week 5. And Mason isn't as dynamic catching the ball out of the backfield as McCaffrey.

Using Kittle more as a focal point blocking for Jordan could help. The 49ers have averaged 5.0 yards per carry and scored all three of their rushing touchdowns on outside carries when Kittle has been on the field this season. With Kittle off the field, they have averaged just 3.8 yards per carry on outside rushes, with no touchdowns.

So, whether it's throwing or running the football in the red area, Kittle must continue to have an impactful role in getting the ball across the goal line for San Francisco. He's key to keeping the 49ers in the mix until McCaffrey returns.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.

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