All the feel-good stories of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 preseason have immediately gone away. Through just over one quarter of the regular season, the Steelers are struggling. As of this writing, they’re down 17-0 to the San Francisco 49ers, who have looked like the perfect team this week, not the Steelers.
Pittsburgh’s offense has opened slow, a complete reversal of what happened in the preseason. After the first quarter, the Steelers were outgained by the 49ers 118-2. Kenny Pickett was sacked on his opening drive, threw an interception intended for a slipping WR Diontae Johnson, and threw incomplete to him on third down the following drive.
On the other end, 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk has had his way with the Steelers. Already, he’s found the end zone twice, scoring on CB Patrick Peterson both times. The first came from eight yards out, Peterson slipping over the middle, while he made a contested grab against him for 19 yards early in the second quarter.
Even special teams have been an issue. The Steelers burned a timeout lining up to defend a 49ers field goal attempt and then went offsides the following play, leading to an easier make for rookie kicker Jake Moody. The only bright spot so far has been two decent kick returns by RB Anthony McFarland Jr.
Pittsburgh came into this game only slight underdogs with many analysts picking the Steelers as the trendy selection of the week. So far, they’ve looked like anything but. As this article was written, the Steelers again went three-and-out and LS Christian Kuntz was flagged for a facemask.
They’ll look to turn things around the rest of the game. But in typical team fashion, they’ve dug themselves quite a hole.
