The Pittsburgh Steelers head into their Week One matchup with the San Francisco 49ers hot, winning all three preseason games and the first-team offense and defense coming off three performances that went as well as anyone could ask for. With Pittsburgh coming in with momentum and looking to prove that they’re improved from last season’s 9-8 squad, six out of the 10 NFL media analysts who predicted the game gave the nod to Pittsburgh to beat San Francisco at Acrisure Stadium.
No one expected Pittsburgh to win the game going away with it, as every prediction in their favor has it as a one-score game. In fact, no one who picked Pittsburgh even has a touchdown separating the two sites, with a three-point margin of victory being the highest. Kevin Patra and Eric Edholm have the Steelers winning 24-21, while Nick Shook has it at 23-20. Grant Gordon and Daniel Jeremiah both have the Steelers winning by one, at 17-16.
All those scores sound like Week One will be a grind-it-out type of contest for the Steelers, which are the type of games they usually thrive it. While they’re usually ugly, Pittsburgh’s found a way to muck it up enough to get the victory.
In general, the consensus seems to be that it will be a close, low-scoring game. Maurice Jones-Drew’s prediction of a 26-17 win for San Francisco was the highest margin of victory, while Colleen Wolfe thinks San Francisco will pull off a 24-17 road win to kick off the season. Marc Sessler has it dragging into overtime where the Niners win 19-16, and Marcas Grant joins the doubters, giving San Francisco the edge 21-17.
Obviously, one constant from the analysts who picked San Francisco is a lack of confidence in the Steelers’ offense. The 49ers possess one of the best defenses in the NFL, but unless it really does become a mucky sort of game, the Steelers are probably out of luck unless they can score 20 points. Gordon and Jeremiah think the Steelers defense can hold off the Brock Purdy-led offense with a 17-16 win, but while it’s hard to say how games would look just from score predictions, it would be really nice to see Pittsburgh’s offense led by QB Kenny Pickett put up more than two touchdowns.
It’s the unit I’m most intrigued to see, especially with such a big test in San Francisco. It would provide a lot of confidence for the rest of the season if they could eek out three touchdowns, but honestly I’ll take anything that gets them the win, no matter how ugly or heart-attack-inducing it may be.
