The Steelers force five turnovers, still can't buy a win; fall to 0-3
This was an ugly football game. San Francisco turned the ball over five times and the Steelers couldn't muster 100 yards of offense in the first half. There's a lot to break down from this game, especially after we look at the film later on this week.
Only one team has made the playoffs after starting 0-3 (2018 Houston Texans) since the NFL's realignment in 2002. Teams that start 0-3 have a less-than-2-percent chance to make the postseason.
The Steelers' defense was once again stellar in the first half of this game. The capitalized on the 49ers' mistakes, taking the ball away four times. They consistently put pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo and kept San Francisco out of the end zone.
The Steelers' offense failed to do almost anything in the first half. They settled for two field goals off of turnovers that automatically put them in field goal range. They couldn't sustain any drives or take any time off the clock.
Just like last week, the Steelers' defense struggled in the second half. They allowed three touchdowns, including a very easy 75-yard drive by San Francisco.
The offense woke up in the second half when Mason Rudolph hit JuJu Smith-Schuster on a crossing route that JuJu took to the house for a 76-yard touchdown. They also later scored on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Rudolph to Diontae Johnson.
Despite their struggles, the Steelers had the chance to close out the game late after thet recovered a 49er fumble, but James Conner fumbled the ball right back to San Francisco just three plays later.
The defense seemed to make a stand on 3rd down with San Francisco threatening in the red zone, but Mark Barron was called for defensive holding. The 49ers scored two plays later, giving them a four-point lead.
Pittsburgh had one last gasp with two timeouts and 1:15 on the clock, but they failed to pick up even one first down.
The Steelers are now 2-8 under Mike Tomlin when traveling to the pacific time zone, and 0-5 in the bay area.
Here are three things that stood out from this loss to San Francisco.
Mason Rudolph isn't the one...yet
Don't get me wrong, this offensive performance was on way more than just the play of the quarterback. We'll get to more of that later on.
Mason Rudolph's performance was pretty underwhelming. He missed several throws and did not react to pressure very well. He simply did not look comfortable a lot during the game.
It's obvious that part of the game plan was to have Rudolph throw a lot of passes short to get him into a rhythm, but a lot of that seemed counter-productive when he needed to throw the ball down the field.
Rudolph didn't connect down the field until the second half, where he did start taking more shots downfield to try to take the top off the defense.
Looking forward: Rudolph has the tools to be a quality quarterback in this league. It's clear now that it may take some time to develop. I'd expect Rudolph to eventually succeed this season, and he has a favorable matchup next week on a Monday night at home against Cincinnati.
The offense is bad. Period.
Where to begin with this offense.
First, the offensive line has been pretty bad during the first three games. They haven't allowed a lot of sacks, but they are constantly getting pushed back in pass protection and aren't creating enough holes for the run game.
The real issues of this offense is that it lacks any wrinkles. They continue to run out of the shotgun way too often, making it obvious that they will run the ball more often when under center.
They don't disguise anything. The offense is incredibly predictable. They also need to eliminate so many pass plays that center around the line of scrimmage. Defenses in the NFL are way too fast to expect to gain any kind of yardage on passes caught at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Looking forward: The Steelers aren't known to fire coordinators midseason, but Randy Fichtner's seat has to feel warm. I wouldn't expect him to lose his job during the season, but if the offense continues to struggle this badly, it's not out of the question after the season is over.
The problems with this offense go way beyond the quarterback. They were struggling with Ben at the helm. They've got to open things up if they expect to have any sustained success.
The defense is an enigma
It was a tale of two halves again. The defense forced four turnovers in the first half and were good in their own red zone. They constantly got after Garoppolo and newly acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick made his presence known immediately with an interception and forced fumble.
The second half was full of mistakes, the inability to stop the run, and allowing San Francisco to score touchdowns off of both of their takeaways.
The lowest point of the game for the defense was when they stopped San Francisco from scoring on third down late in the game, forcing them to settle for a game-tying field goal attempt. The play was wiped out on a Mark Barron holding penalty, giving San Francisco a fresh set of downs. The 49ers took the lead back two plays later.
Barron has been one of the worst players on defense this season. He was brought in to help with coverage in the middle of the defense and has failed to live up to that role. His closing speed in coverage is lacking and he just gets beat way too often.
Looking forward: The Steelers host the Bengals next week, which should be their easiest test of the season. The defensive front has continuously gotten pressure on the quarterback and the addition of Minkah was very noticeable in game number one with him.
They'll need to be able to make in-game adjustments and be able to minimize the opposing team's ability to capitalize in key moments. This is what they struggled with a season ago, despite some pretty good overall numbers.
It could be a similar situation with Keith Butler as it is with Randy Fichtner. The defense continues to struggle in key moments and with miscommunication. Both units rank near the bottom of the league in yards-per-game. Neither coordinator should feel great about their job security.
