Outside of maybe the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets showdown on Monday Night Football in Week One of the NFL season, the Pittsburgh Steelers-San Francisco 49ers matchup on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Acrisure Stadium might be the best game of the opening slate.
Two teams with great defenses, developing second-year quarterbacks that showed real flashes as rookies, star-level playmakers all over the offense, and two elite-level head coaches.
What’s not to like?
Not much.
Despite all of the key talking points leading up to the Week One matchup, Pittsburgh native and national sports analyst Scott Ferrall said that his decision to pick the 49ers over the Steelers in Week One comes down to something quite simple: San Francisco is just better than Pittsburgh.
“It’s torture for me, because I want to take them; I want them to win badly, but I just know that the team they’re playing, frankly, is better than them,” Ferrall said on Ferrall Coast to Coast on SiriusXM. “I think the Steelers are loaded with talent, and they haven’t figured out how to be better than 9-8. The Steelers are a tough team; you do not have fun playing them, ever. But they’re not the San Francisco 49ers at this point. I’m sorry.”
While the Steelers did a great job in the offseason reshaping the roster top to bottom, putting together — quite honestly — a perfect offseason in free agency and the NFL Draft, it’s not as good of a roster as San Francisco’s is — yet.
That’s a fair statement to make.
San Francisco has arguably the best running back in football, one of the best 1-2 punches at wide receiver in Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, an elite-level tight end, the best left tackle in football, potentially the best defensive line in football, the top linebacker and a terrific safety tandem. Add an elite head coach in Kyle Shanahan, who is also the best play-caller in football, and it’s tough to see the Steelers being better than the 49ers from a roster standpoint.
That’s why they play the games, though.
For all the talent the Steelers have had in recent years, they’ve never been as deep and as talented as they appear on paper entering the first week of the season. Expectations are high in Pittsburgh. It’s a very difficult test right out of the chute, but we’re going to learn quite a bit about the Black and Gold Sunday, one way or another.
