49ers TE George Kittle Declines to Discuss Kyle Shanahan's Performance

I guess if you don't have something good to say, don't say anything at all.

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) looks on in the first half against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

After the 49ers got blown out by the Cardinals on Sunday, George Kittle stood in the locker room and was asked to discuss his head coach, Kyle Shanahan, who had a rough season. Here's what Kittle said.

Q: You're having your end-of-the-year meeting with Kyle Shanahan tomorrow.

KITTLE: "Am I?"

Q: Are you not?

KITTLE: "You know, there's a long line sometimes. I might FaceTime him. I don't cut lines."

Q: What usually is said in those types of meetings with the head coach?

KITTLE: "It's different every year depending on how the year goes. I always do a little check-up. How do you think I did? How do I think he did? And then wherever it goes from there. I don't really go in there with much intent unless there's something really on my mind. The nice thing about Kyle is that you can talk to him about anything and it goes from there and you have a nice, long discussion. I'll probably save that for a FaceTime call."

Q: You don't have something that you really want to talk to him about this year?

KITTLE: "Is there something I should be asking him about?"

Q: No, I'm just wondering.

KITTLE: "No, not really."

Q: The team didn't finish the year very well. I would have bet you'd have something to say.

KITTLE: "Being a part of this team for as long as I have, our standard is higher than what we put on tape this year. I trust in John and Kyle and Jed that they're going to make whatever decisions they need to make to set us back on the right track. When you play a lot of games and you have a ton of turnovers and you don't force any turnovers, it's hard to win football games if you're not scoring 30 or 40 points per game. That's losing football. We're going to do everything we can to fix that and stop turning the ball over so much."

Q: You said you're going to talk to Kyle about how you think he did this season. How do you think he did this season?

KITTLE: "I'll save that for our discussion. Good question, though."

MY TAKE: I find it interesting that Kittle plans to FaceTime Shanahan and not meet with him face to face, because a face-to-face meeting would be a sign of respect. I also find it interesting that Kittle easily could have said, "I'll keep my thoughts on Kyle's performance between him and me, but I will say that he's a great coach and none of us performed well this season. We're a team and we accept responsibility for this failure as a group. We don't blame one person. And there's no one I'd rather have coaching our team than Shanahan." But Kittle said nothing.

I guess if you don't have something good to say, don't say anything at all.

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