San Francisco 49ers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell was ordered to take the field in the third quarter of Thursday night’s game against the Rams while his teammates battled injuries.

Campbell refused – and at the end of the quarter he went to the locker room.

This could be the last time we see him in a 49ers jersey.

After a 12-6 loss that dropped the 49ers to 6-8 and all but ended their hopes of another Super Bowl trip this season, coach Kyle Shanahan was asked by reporters what happened to Campbell.

“He said he didn’t want to play today,” Shanahan said.

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Shanahan added that Campbell had not provided this information to the team at this point and did not provide a reason for his decision.

Campbell, a nine-year veteran, was signed as a free agent in the offseason to play weakside linebacker while longtime starter Dre Greenlaw recovered from an Achilles tendon injury suffered during the Super Bowl in February. Campbell started all but one of the first 13 games at the position, but Greenlaw received the nod Thursday night in his season debut.

Shanahan told reporters that Campbell should come into play for Greenlaw at some point. That opportunity seemed to present itself in the third quarter, but Campbell had other ideas.

Star tight end George Kittle said after the game that Campbell made “a selfish decision.”

“I’ve never been around anyone who has ever done that,” Kittle said, “and I hope I’m never around anyone who does it again.”

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He added: “I don’t like distractions on the sidelines. I find that ignorant and I just find it stupid. It’s just stupid and very immature. I just don’t understand how you can do something like that with a team.”

Cornerback Charvarius Ward, who returned to the team earlier this month after the death of his 1-year-old daughter in October, had a lot to say about Campbell after the game.

“He is a professional. He’s been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play, he shouldn’t have taken his clothes off. He could have told them that before the game,” Ward said. “It definitely hurt the team because you know D was out and we needed a linebacker. That’s how it is with this.”

Asked whether Campbell would be released, Shanahan said: “We’ll figure something out, but I don’t know at the moment.”

He later added: “This is someone who doesn’t want to play football. This is pretty simple. I think our team and I know what we think about it, so we don’t need to talk about him anymore.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.