There was a lot to like about the San Francisco 49ers' 41-22 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, a matchup that featured the return of quarterback Brock Purdy and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall from long-term injuries.
The offense was humming yet again, led by running back Christian McCaffrey and his trio of touchdowns, and wide receiver Jauan Jennings looked more like himself than he has all season with Purdy back leading the charge.
Another Niner pass catcher who benefited from Purdy's return was tight end George Kittle, who caught six of his targets for 67 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
The second of those scores put Kittle into rare company in franchise history in more ways than one.
George Kittle joins elite 49ers list with 50th TD grab
That third-quarter touchdown reception from Purdy was the 50th of Kittle's illustrious career, and he became just the fifth player in the long history of the 49ers to catch as many touchdown passes, joining Vernon Davis, Gene Washington, Terrell Owens, and Jerry Rice on the list.
The play also allowed the pair of Purdy and Kittle to surpass Steve Young and Brent Jones for the second-most quarterback-to-tight-end touchdowns in franchise history. That was their 23rd scoring connection of their careers, and only Alex Smith and Davis have more with 30.
As if that wasn't impressive enough, Kittle's day earned him a spot on an even more inclusive list in franchise history.
With the touchdown, he became just the third 49ers player to have 50-plus touchdown catches and 500-plus receptions, joining Owens and Rice on that list.
That is quite a lot of history packed into a single touchdown, especially one that merely extended the 49ers' lead from 28-10 to 35-10 in what would prove to be a blowout win over their division opponents.
If all that wasn't impressive enough, Kittle's overall season, while only a few games long due to the hamstring injury that kept him out for five whole games and most of the season opener, continues to be outstanding.
Chief among the statistics that illustrate this comes from Jeff Deeney of Pro Football Focus, who noted after the game that Kittle has now caught 23 straight passes targeted at him, catching 93.1 percent of his targets so far this year.
Yes, the sample size isn't enormous (29 total targets), but Kittle continues to be a consistent receiver no matter who is playing quarterback for San Francisco.
Kittle looks set to continue playing at a high level, and his contract likely keeps him in San Francisco until 2029, which means he'll have plenty of time to keep adding his name to the franchise record book and cement his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he finally calls it career.