An incident on the sidelines during a crushing loss Thursday night, Dec. 12, to the Los Angeles Rams added insult to the San Francisco 49er’s injury. Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to enter the game when coaches called his number. Afterward, as expected, his teammates, including team captain George Kittle, were furious.

“It’s one person making a selfish decision. I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that, and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again,” said Kittle.

The controversy began in the third quarter when San Francisco coaches wanted to give linebacker Dre Greenlaw a break. Greenlaw was dealing with a sore knee in his first game action since suffering a different injury in the Super Bowl back in February.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan says the plan was to put Campbell in, but he declined to go into the game. After the game, a surprised media contingent peppered Shanahan with questions. His answers were brief.

“People noticed, but when someone says that, you move on,” 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 we don’t need to talk about him anymore.”

When asked whether Campbell would be released, Shanahan said, “We’ll figure out something.”

A nine-year NFL veteran, Campbell walked to the locker room with a towel over his head. Teammate Charvarious Ward called Campbell’s actions unprofessional and may have foreshadowed his fate.

“It definitely hurt the team. Dee went down and we needed a linebacker. … So, for him to do that, that’s some sucka stuff to me, in my opinion,” said Ward. “He’s probably going to get cut soon, so it is what it is with that.”

Just 10 months removed from a Super Bowl appearance, the Niners’ playoff hopes hang by a thread after the 12-6 loss.