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49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to play when asked during the team’s Thursday night 12-6 loss against the Rams as Los Angeles eked past San Francisco to keep its playoff hopes alive. A day later, head coach Kyle Shanahan said he doesn’t expect Campbell to play again this season.
After the game, Shanahan had told reporters that nine-year veteran Campbell was asked to enter the game in the third quarter after Dre Greenlaw – who was making his season debut after tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl last season – felt some soreness but Campbell refused, walking to the locker room shortly afterward.
In a call with reporters Friday, Shanahan was asked if he expected Campbell to be with the 49ers for Week 16 or beyond. “No. I don’t,” he replied.
Shanahan also said the team is “working through the semantics of it.”
Shanahan said in his post-game press conference that Campbell gave no reason for why he didn’t want to play.
Shanahan said he wasn’t sure if the team would release Campbell. “When someone says that, you move on. You don’t deal with that anymore,” Shanahan said. “That’s somebody who doesn’t want to play football, that’s pretty simple. I think our team and myself, we know how we feel about that. So, I don’t think we need to talk about him anymore.”
On Thursday night, 49ers tight end George Kittle called Campbell’s decision “selfish.”
“Look, if you’re on the roster and you suit up, you’re expected to play,” Kittle told reporters. “I think anyone in this building that got asked to go in, I would say 100% of everybody would die to get on that football field. And so, people go through, are going through random things off the field, I can’t speak on that.
“Whatever his decision was, it wasn’t for this organization, it wasn’t for this team and that’s on him. So, I’m not very happy about it. I wish I would’ve heard about it on the field, but I didn’t. Now, is that the reason we lost? Absolutely not. But it’s hard to win football games when someone doesn’t want to play football. Especially, when you’re suited up. It kinda puts you down, especially when you lose two linebackers and could have dressed another one.”
San Francisco cornerback Charvarius Ward, who was playing in his third game since returning following the death of his daughter, was critical of Campbell’s actions.
“He’s a professional, he been playing for a long time,” Ward told reporters. “I mean, if he didn’t want to play, he shouldn’t have dressed out, he coulda told them that before the game. So, I feel like that was some sucka sh*t that he did. Definitely hurt the team. Cause Dee (Greenlaw) went down, and we needed a linebacker.
“That’s some sucka stuff to me, in my opinion. Probably gonna get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.”
Campbell’s actions were the main talking point from a rainy affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, that featured two teams playing on four days’ rest, with both offenses struggling to get much going throughout.
San Francisco managed to score a field goal, on a drive that was kickstarted when quarterback Brock Purdy connected with Kittle for a 33-yard gain. Several plays later, 49ers kicker Jake Moody nailed a 53-yarder to give San Francisco a 3-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Rams would tie the game in the second quarter following a successful 48-yard field goal by Los Angeles Kicker Joshua Karty.
However, that’s as much offense as both teams would generate, as both teams combined to punt the ball a total of seven times in the opening quarter.
Rams quarterback Matt Stafford called it a “tough” game, pointing to the weather for having an affect on the play.
“Obviously, we didn’t start great. I hit two 49ers in the chest early on, which is not great,” Stafford said, joking about his early struggles. “But, you got to keep being resilient and bounce back. The defense did a hell of a job keeping us in it early.”
Los Angeles scored three field goals in the fourth quarter, while getting a key interception with just over five minutes left to seal the victory.
According to the Amazon broadcast, Thursday night’s game was the first time in 152 meetings between the two teams that neither scored a touchdown through the first three quarters.
Despite not scoring a touchdown, Rams head coach Sean McVay praised his team for being able to win in a “variety of ways.”
“We just had a 44-42 game – we have a ton of respect for this group,” McVay said. “I thought the defense just came big time and time out. Josh Karty to be able to hit four field goals. … We love to be able to finish with touchdowns but sometimes you got to win ugly. There’s no style points.”
With the victory, Los Angeles improves to 8-6 on the season, winning seven of their last nine games, and now hold a 50% chance of clinching a playoff spot, according to NFL.com.
“We can go out and play with anybody. It’s about us not being ourselves” said Rams defensive lineman Kobie Turner. “Everything that happened tonight, that’s us playing our brand of ball. That’s us not kicking ourselves in the foot. At the end of the day that’s the type of team that we are.”
Meanwhile, the 49ers drop to 6-8 and sit in last place in the NFC West with their chances for a playoff berth falling to under one percent.
This story has been updated with additional information.
