Breaking down the good, the bad, and the ugly in the Steelers loss to the 49ers
The ORIGINAL Good, Bad, and Ugly segment traditionally saw SCU contributor Brian E. Roach breakdown several segments of each game into each of a grading category of “good”, “bad”, or “ugly”. To get to the nitty gritty, Joe Kuzma dissects three moments from each game which could be best classified as each of those labels.
Finding bad and ugly wasn’t so difficult this week as it was finding the “good”. While there’s a lot to potentially build on, the Steelers falling to 0-3 in a 24-20 loss the 49ers is the absolute worst.
Here’s where other things went right… or terribly wrong.
Good – 4:52 1st Quarter: 2-and-11 SF 27
Up 3-0 following a Jimmy Garappolo interception on the game’s opening series, the Steelers would be the beneficiary of another splash play later in the first quarter when newly acquired safety Minkah Fitzpatrick would snatch a pass intended for Dante Pettis out of the air.
Pressure was put on the 49ers quarterback by Bud Dupree, as the passer let the ball rip early to his intended target, where Steelers CB Joe Haden got a piece of the ball and it was deflected toward the former Miami Dolphin Fitzpatrick.
The play would set the Steelers up on the San Francisco 24, but the offense would not fully capitalize, settling for a field goal.
Despite that effort, it was still a 6-0 Steelers lead early on, which gave everyone hope the team would be rebounding after an 0-2 start.
Bad – 5:36 4th Quarter: 1-and-10 PIT 24
This could qualify for worse than bad… or “worse”. However, in fitting with the theme of the column, I wanted to stick to this being “bad” because something worse actually happened after.
The Steelers were having difficulty containing the Niners late in the fourth quarter. Unable to generate much on offense, their defense was left to tire on the field for a greater portion, nearly a full 13 minutes longer than their opponent.
Somehow, Pittsburgh came back with the football, sending their offense out to save the day, but it would be for naught.
On the third play of the series, consuming only 1:20 of game clock, Steelers RB James Conner would fumble, giving the ball right back to San Francisco with prime field position at the Steelers 24-yard line…
Ugly – 2:08 4th Quarter: 3-and-11 PIT 14
Which leads to ugly.
Once again, the Steelers defense was put to task. With the 49ers still down three points, if the defense could’ve held San Francisco, it may have forced a decision as to whether to tie the game or go for it.
And for all intents and purposes they had them right where they wanted them: that is, until LB Mark Barron committed a costly defensive holding penalty on 49ers TE George Kittle on a 3rd-and-11 from the Pittsburgh 14.
The penalty marched the ball 5 yards, but most importantly, gave San Francisco a fresh set of downs.
Two plays later the 49ers would score the winning touchdown, seeing the Steelers fall to the final score of 24-20.
