Minkah Fitzpatrick is as upset as anyone over losing Sunday’s opener to the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers controlled this game from start to finish, leading for about 55 of the 60 minutes of today’s game.
But in his mind, the issue wasn’t on the coaching staff. It wasn’t the game plan. To quote the late Denny Green, the 49ers were who the Pittsburgh Steelers thought they were.
And they let ’em off the hook.
Speaking to reporters following today’s 30-7 loss, Fitzpatrick said the players must get better.
“We ain’t gotta change nothing,” he said via The Trib’s Chris Adamski. “We’ve got to go out there and execute. The only reason why we lost the game was a lack of execution and we lost one 50-50 ball. They were doing what they wanted to do. We didn’t stop nothing. We didn’t [force] them to play outside of their strong suit.”
Aside from three T.J. Watt sacks, the defense failed to execute. The 49ers’ stars and studs faced little resistance. Running back Christian McCaffrey ran for 152 yards and a touchdown while chipping in three catches for 17 yards. Wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, someone we called among the most underrated receivers in football, exploded for eight receptions, 129 yards, and two touchdowns. He caught the “50-50 ball” Fitzpatrick referred to, making a play on CB Patrick Peterson, who allowed a pair of touchdowns in this game.
Pittsburgh struggled to tighten up its zone coverages. They couldn’t get off blocks. Their tackling was suspect and even players like Fitzpatrick couldn’t finish chances. In one instance, Fitzpatrick freely blitzed off the edge only to be juked out by QB Brock Purdy, who rolled left and fired downfield to complete the pass for a first down.
The Steelers tried to use Fitzpatrick close to the line of scrimmage in run support, but it did little to help a 49ers ground game that ended the day with 188 yards on the ground. On McCaffrey’s 65-yard touchdown run, Fitzpatrick was blocked out of the picture and away from the play, the Steelers’ secondary unable to wrangle him down the rest of the way.
Fitzpatrick and the rest of the roster will have to regroup for Monday night’s tilt against the Cleveland Browns. An 0-2 start and loss in the AFC North would be a repeat of past years, the Steelers digging a hole early they try to climb out of the rest of the way.
