SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers are expecting to get star tight end George Kittle back this week for a key game against Green Bay but are uncertain whether top pass rusher Nick Bosa will be able to play.
The 49ers (5-5) finished last week's 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks without either Kittle or Bosa able to play, leading to their third loss this season after holding a late lead and leaving San Francisco's playoff hopes in peril.
Kittle missed the entire game with a hamstring injury but was back at practice in a limited fashion Wednesday and said there was no doubt he would play Sunday against the Packers.
With Kittle out, the Niners matched their season low in points and were held to their fewest yards (277) since Week 6 last season at Cleveland.
Bosa left the game in the third quarter with an injury to his left hip and oblique. He was already dealing with a similar injury on the right side that he described as the most pain he has tried to play though. Bosa said Wednesday that the left side is even worse but that he is making progress, leaving open the possibility that he could play Sunday.
“It gets better every day,” he said. “We’ll see. Definitely a little early to call it either way, so we’ll find out. We have a few days.”
Bosa's absence played a big role in San Francisco's latest blown lead after squandering games already against the Rams in Week 3 and the Cardinals in Week 5.
Seattle was averaging 3.6 yards per play with six points on five drives when Bosa got hurt. The Seahawks then averaged 6.3 yards per play the rest of the game with two TDs on their final three drives.
The loss to the Seahawks left the 49ers in a three-way tie for second place in the NFC West, a game behind first-place Arizona, and with little margin for error if they want to get back to the playoffs after losing the Super Bowl last season.
“Obviously, you don’t want to be down and feel sorry for yourself, but obviously you don’t want to act like nothing’s wrong,” Bosa said. “I think we understand the task ahead, and we understand that we have to finish games. We’ve come very close in most of our losses and we’re probably three or four plays away from being an 8-2 team, which is easy to say, but it just shows that if we could play better football throughout the game then we’re as good as anybody and we believe that.”
In other injury news, quarterback Brock Purdy was limited at practice after hurting his right shoulder in Sunday's game and didn't throw any passes during the open portion of practice. But coach Kyle Shanahan said he expected Purdy would be able to play Sunday.
Running back Christian McCaffrey didn't practice on Wednesday to give some rest to his Achilles tendinitis that sidelined him for the first eight games this season.
Star left tackle Trent Williams also got a rest day as he deals with an ankle injury that kept him out of practice all of last week.
NOTES: LB Tatum Bethune (knee) and DT Kevin Givens (groin) also didn't practice on Wednesday. ... CB Charvarius Ward was limited in his first practice since the death of his 1-year-old daughter on Oct. 28. Shanahan said he would wait until later in the week to determine if Ward would be able to play. ... WR Jacob Cowing (concussion protocol) and OL Jon Feliciano (knee) were also limited. ... San Francisco signed DL Jonathan Garvin to the practice squad.
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Josh Dubow, The Associated Press
