Football is as emotional of a game as it is physical, and no team understands that better than the San Francisco 49ers right now. The loss of Fred Warner for the season was when any lighthearted outlook on the Niners’ injury situation was lost. But as he recovers from what head coach Kyle Shanahan said was a successful ankle surgery on Tuesday, the team got a necessary boost of players back.

Quarterback Brock Purdy and, finally, tight end George Kittle returned to practice on Wednesday as limited participants. That duo perhaps better than anyone else is what San Francisco needs right now: their leaders, and their morale booster.

As Cam Inman with the Mercury News (subscription required) reported, Shanahan isn’t exactly hosting a huddle around the campfire as the team tries to move past the loss of Warner.

“We don’t have a big kumbaya or anything to have everyone share an inspirational deal. We address it and talk about what we have to do to handle it,” Shanahan said.

In the middle of the season, the Niners simply have to keep moving forward. It certainly helps when a player like Kittle returns who can truly turn frowns upside down.

“Obviously we know who George is: ‘The Joker,’ the teammate he is, his personality in the huddle. We all have our favorite handshakes. He brings a lot of fun into the huddle,” right tackle Colton McKivitz said per Inman.

Kittle is equally essential on the field. The run game has entirely faltered in his absence, and the leading receiver right now is running back Christian McCaffrey. Through six weeks of play, San Francisco averages a league-worst 3.06 yards per carry.

They haven’t recorded 100 rush yards since Kittle exited the Week 1 contest against the Seattle Seahawks. If the Niners have hopes of a playoff push still, it will come through their ground game, and without Kittle, the wheels fall off.

It’s not just his technique and power. In another world, Kittle was a linebacker. Not many tight ends block with the desire to do so like Kittle. Not any tight ends besides Kittle have been recorded pancaking a defender with utter glee.

That type of energy is irreplaceable, and it’s been sorely missed through the last five games. We have yet to see a Mac Jones-led offense with Kittle, and maybe that would’ve made things look entirely different in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But there’s nothing like the return of Purdy and Kittle to boost the foggy moods in the Bay Area.