What Kyle Shanahan Thinks of Colton McKivitz's Outing Versus Steelers

No player on the 49ers had a more difficult matchup against the Steelers than right tackle Colton McKivitz.

He had to take on superb pass rush T.J. Watt for the entirety of the game. McKivitz, as expected, struggled on a handful of plays. The most notable one was when he didn't even get his hands on Watt in which Watt forced a fumble on Brock Purdy.

Luckily, the 49ers were in control of the game from the start. So, even though McKivitz was getting worked, it had little impact overall on the game. On Monday, Kyle Shanahan gave his thoughts via conference call on McKivitz's outing versus the Steelers.

“He had the toughest matchup on the field," said Shanahan. "There was definitely a number that Watt got him. There's a couple situations we could have helped him out better with some chips and stuff. He battled throughout it, but did good enough for us to win. It was a huge challenge going against that player."

What really was a surprise in this matchup was even though McKivitz was getting worked, it never got to a detrimental point. The 49ers offense was not suffering because of it. Sure, it was bad for several plays including Purdy's fumble, but the 49ers showed that they can easily mitigate the liability of McKivitz. He went up against one of the best pass rushers in the league and it didn't dramatically hurt the offense.

The best part is that he isn't going to be facing valiant edge rushers weekly. Facing Watt can act as a good learning experience and potentially provide growth for him. It's something that even Shanahan believes can prove beneficial with McKivitz. But he also thinks that experience first helped him back in 2021.

“A lot, but he got that also two years ago when he had to hop in that Rams game at the very end on some short notice when [T] Trent [Williams] couldn’t go. So he has been thrown in some tough positions, but Watt’s as good as it gets on the edge and especially in a loud atmosphere, especially early in that game. But he kept battling and I think he'll do better next week.”

McKivitz should perform better next week since the 49ers are facing the Rams. They do not have anyone close to the caliber of Watt. Not unless the Rams line Aaron Donald up over McKivitz, then it should be a much better outing for him in Week 2. Only time will tell if all this experience, like facing Watt, will aid him down the road. If he can become more buttoned up, then the 49ers will have improved offensively.