Don’t tell 49ers tight end George Kittle that momentum doesn’t matter.
After San Francisco’s comeback win over the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship, Kittle took the podium and took aim at analytics people who don’t believe momentum has an effect on the action.
Why [do] analytics people say that momentum isn’t a real thing? I had that conversation with Pat McAfee. He was like, ‘Yeah, all these people tell us momentum’s not real.’ And that’s just the biggest load of horse crap I’ve ever heard in my entire life. But we move on, I digress.
George Kittle says he doesn’t know why some football analysts don’t believe in momentum, then describes how the Levi’s crowd helped shift momentum in the 2nd half pic.twitter.com/sHmU1IkIQY
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 29, 2024
The Niners’ All-Pro was then asked when he believed the momentum swung in his team’s direction and Kittle pointed to a number of sequences that took place over the final 30 minutes.
We had a good opening drive out of the second half and [after] that fourth-down stop we were just kind of feeling the energy. Go down and score… alright this is huge. Turnover… I was like, ‘Aw man, all bets are off now! Like, bang bang!’
San Fran was able to overcome a 17-point deficit to get their shot at a Super Bowl rematch with the Chiefs. Should be an incredible one out in Vegas Feb. 11.