George Kittle Has Nothing But Respect for Dan Campbell Ahead of 49ers-Lions Showdown

San Francisco and Detroit will headline "Monday Night Football" this week.

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle on Dec. 27, 2024. / Grant Cohn / Twitter / Screenshot

The Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers will go head to head for Monday Night Football this week, but tight end George Kittle is kicking things off with nothing but love, at least as it relates to Lions coach Dan Campbell.

Asked for his impression on Campbell's style of coaching, the Pro-Bowler offered a really admirable and extensive take.

"I think when you have a head coach who had played and the way that he played, too—he was a very gritty, kind of a nasty player but it was beloved by all of his teammates—I think it's really easy to play for guys like that," Kittle told 49ers on SI's Grant Cohn. "He seems like a guy who they have hard practices, makes 'em grind, makes 'em earn every second. But you want people that like to hold you to a standard and that's a standard that they've created and he's created since they've been there and it's very awesome to see that the Lions have gotten to that. But it's our job to, you know, take 'em down a little bit."

George Kittle on Dan Campbell. pic.twitter.com/GxZAGrung0

— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) December 27, 2024

Kittle's perspective on the matter is an interesting one, just given the differences between 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Campbell. While Shanahan is credited with handling most of the offensive play-calling for the 49ers, for example, Campbell is known to lean on and work closely with Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. The Detroit coach is also more heart than head in both his coaching and calling, a strategy that gets him into trouble sometimes but has mostly paid off for the 13–2 Lions, who, lest we forget, were 3–13 back in 2021.

In any event, the pair's differences will be on full display come Monday at 8:15 p.m. ET.

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