The 49ers will be without a key piece of their offense for two more games after All-Pro tight end George Kittle missed San Francisco's 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in Glendale.
Kittle was able to play in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks but struggled to get on the field for practice leading up to Sunday's game. He was placed on short-term IR on Saturday and will miss the next two games, and three weeks, after the 49ers' Week 6 bye.
Following the 49ers' loss, coach Kyle Shanahan explained what led to the decision to shut down Kittle.
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“Yeah, it just got a lot worse," Shanahan told reporters. "There wasn’t an exact diagnosis on it, so we were expecting it to heal with some of the results the guys had told us. It got so much worse that we started to look at it a different way, that’s why we had to shut him down.”
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According to NFL Media's Tom Pelissero, the 49ers are confident that Kittle will be available as soon as Week 9 against the Cardinals at Levi's Stadium.
Until then, the 49ers will enjoy a much-needed bye before preparing to face both the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears without their star tight end.