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Photo of Kyle Shanahan Hugging George Kittle After Season-Ending Injury Is So Sad

Kristen Wong

49ers star tight end George Kittle suffered an Achilles injury during Sunday’s win over the Eagles.
49ers star tight end George Kittle suffered an Achilles injury during Sunday’s win over the Eagles. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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The 49ers got their sweet revenge over the Eagles in Sunday’s wild-card playoff win, but it came at a heavy cost: San Francisco star tight end George Kittle suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in the second quarter.

Kittle had just reeled in a pass from Brock Purdy and was trying to drive upfield past an Eagles defender when he suffered his Achilles tear in his right leg. He was carted off the field shortly after, but not before he shared an emotional and tender moment with his coach, Kyle Shanahan.

A photo taken by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Scott Strazzante showed a head-on shot of a somber Shanahan hugging Kittle, whose face was obscured from the camera. Shanahan had one hand on Kittle’s neck as he consoled the veteran tight end in his last game of the season:

Here’s that iconic photo:

So heartbreaking.

Kittle saw his 2025 campaign get cut short due to a devastating injury after missing six games in the regular season due to a hamstring tear and an ankle sprain. It’s unfortunate that Kittle won’t get to join the 49ers on their playoff run this year, having served as one of the team’s most charismatic and outspoken leaders for the last near-decade, but the show must go on for San Francisco.

“When you lose a leader like that, you never really lose him because his presence is still in this locker room, his energy is still here. We’re praying for him, love him, going to play for him the rest of the way,” McCaffrey said of Kittle.

The 49ers will face off against their NFC West foe, the No. 1-seeded Seattle Seahawks, in the divisional round next week.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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