49ers injury news: Why George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw didn’t play vs. Rams

Just before Sunday's kickoff against the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers announced that tight end George Kittle and linebacker Dre Greenlaw had been ruled out of the regular-season finale. Both were initially expected to play but were late additions to the team's hefty list of sidelined players.

When Kyle Shanahan was asked if the team was overly concerned about either injury, the head coach stated, "No. They definitely were trying to go, but Kittle's having some back spasms. So once that was happening in pregame, we shut him down."

The linebacker's status also seems relatively unconcerning, with Shanahan adding, "Dre had some Achilles tendonitis, so that was acting up a little bit more before the game. We had heard about it, and once we heard that, we were safe with him."

Sidelining Kittle and Greenlaw were precautionary moves. Since Sunday's game was meaningless for the 49ers, who had already secured the top seed and home-field advantage in the NFC, the decision to sit both players was easy.

San Francisco will await the weakest-seeded NFC winner from the Wild Card Round, playing its first game at Levi's Stadium on the weekend of January 20.

Other setbacks from the game were defensive end Clelin Ferrell suffering a knee injury and safety Tayler Hawkins sustaining a wrist injury.