Stupid, stupid and very immature.
49ers tight end George Kittle refused to play in the NFC West game against the Rams, in which the All-Pro linebacker lost his starting spot because of DeVondre Campbell's meltdown in the third quarter Thursday night. He expressed it like this.
“Whatever his decision was, it wasn't for this organization, it wasn't for this team. It's his responsibility,” said a postgame reporter after San Francisco's 12-6 loss at Levi's Stadium. Kittle said at the press conference. “I'm not really happy about that. I think there was something I wanted to say. I wanted to hear it on the scene, but I couldn't.
“Is that why we lost? Absolutely no… When someone doesn't want to play football, especially when you're the one in the suit, try to win the football game, especially the linebackers. I feel kind of depressed when I lose two people.”
The 49ers lost linebackers Dre Greenlaw (knee) and Dee Winters (neck) to injuries sustained in the game.
“That's just stupid. That's just stupid. It's so immature,” Kittle said. “I don't understand how someone could do something like that to their team.”
Kittle explained that the situation hasn't caused any tension as a team and that Campbell, a ninth-year linebacker, has made himself an outlier.
“[There is] It's not about distrust or disconnection as a team. That's one person who decided not to play for his teammates. It's not that our offense or defense looks like it's falling apart, it's that one person is making things like — [49ers cornerback] moony [Charvarius Ward] Said — a selfish decision. I agree with Moony on that. I've never been around anyone who did anything like that before, and I hope I'm never around anyone who does it again. ”
Ward said afterward that Campbell's refusal to play was a problem. “It kind of sucked,” he said, and because the 49ers were short at the position, “it hurt the team.”
“He's a professional,” Ward said after the game. “He's been playing for a long time. If he didn't want to play, he shouldn't have dressed up. He could have told them that before the game. Like what he did was terrible. I feel like that definitely hurt the team. With Dee going down, we needed a linebacker… so I think it's probably terrible for him to do that right away. You'll probably get cut off, so it can't be helped.”
When Campbell was called up in the third quarter, he refused to play and headed to the locker room with a towel over his head.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan then turned to Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, the only healthy linebacker remaining on the active roster.
“He said he didn't want to play today,” Shanahan said of Campbell.
The 49ers signed Campbell as an unrestricted free agent from the Packers in March.
He had started 12 of the 49ers' 13 games heading into Thursday's game, but the team was phasing him out in preparation for Greenlaw's return.
The loss was a devastating setback for the 49ers as they slowly worked their way back into NFC West contention. Instead, they currently sit in last place, 2 1/2 games behind the division-leading Seahawks.
The 49ers (6-8) will play the Dolphins (6-7) on Dec. 22 in Miami.
