If one remembers all the way back to Week 1 in Seattle against the Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers received some unlikely heroics from backup tight end Jake Tonges.
Now, toward the end of the season, he's barely a factor at all on offense.
Obviously, the reason why the Los Gatos native was even in a position to make a miracle catch in the closing minutes of that Seahawks game in Week 1 was because George Kittle went down with a hamstring injury earlier in the contest.
Tonges stepped up in that game and was a big factor early in the season with Kittle out for several weeks. Through the first six weeks of the season, Tonges had 224 receiving yards and three touchdown catches.
Since Week 6, however, Tonges has just once catch, which was for a touchdown on a pass from quarterback Mac Jones that was actually intended for Kittle.
Outside of that, the backup tight end has been a non-factor on offense and was only on the field for three snaps on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
Having Kittle back certainly changed things. He's arguably the best tight end in football, so even though Tonges was solid, he was inevitably going to return to a bench role once Kittle returned.
Plus, San Francisco also has Luke Farrell on the roster, whom the team utilizes as a blocker when it has two tight ends on the field. So, that makes it harder for Tonges to get any action.
Maybe Tonges will get more involved in these final weeks. With a lot of attention being placed on Kittle and running back Christian McCaffrey, that could create an opportunity for a backup tight end like Tonges to go unnoticed and make a big play.
Even if he does not get much action, it's nice knowing San Francisco has a serviceable backup, should Kittle go down again. It would be heartbreaking if Kittle did, given everything he provides for the team and the fun-loving spirit he plays with. But 49ers fans know that the injury bug is never far away.
Tonges was even someone the Niners could have considered trading at the deadline, but they likely would not have gotten a big haul.
Maybe the 49ers are just waiting to have Tonges play hero again in Week 18 against the Seahawks, so he can be a hero in the first regular-season game as well as the last.
That'd be nice.