By Ian S Palmer
The San Francisco 49ers will be packing their bags and heading east this weekend when they visit Heinz Field to battle it out with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 20. The 49’ers kicked off the Jim Tomsula era with an impressive 20-3 win for their new head coach over the Minnesota Vikings in their season opener at home. The Steelers didn’t fare as well as they were beaten 28-21 last Thursday in the league’s season-opening contest against reigning Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots in Foxborough.
49ers vs Steelers Football Betting Preview
- Pinnacle lists the Steelers -5 at -112 with San Francisco +5 at +102 with the over 45 points at -104 and the under at -106
Most fans were watching San Francisco running back Carlos Hyde in their Monday night game against the Vikings. The 23-year-old led the way with 168 rushing yards and a touchdown in his first NFL start. The team has now won their past five opening games. He wasn’t a one-man team though as quarterback Colin Kaepernick also had a good outing. San Francisco gained 230 yards on the ground and Kaepernick connected on 17 of his 26 passes for 165 yards in the air. The quarterback is an impressive 5-0 in Monday night outings. He was sacked once and finished with a quarterback rating of 83.0.
The 49’ers can’t take the Steelers lightly though even though Martavis Bryant and Le’Veon Bell will still be missing from action. The Steelers’ pass defense had a subpar game last week as Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski scored three touchdowns against it as well as 361 yards in total. San Francisco tight ends Garrett Celek and Vernon Davis combined for six receptions last week and 87 yards. Australian Jarryd Hayne, a former rugby player, struggled in his NFL debut with just 13 yards from four carries.
Defensively, linebacker NaVorro Bowman had a sack on Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, which was one of San Francisco’s five on the day, and chipped in with seven tackles. It was a pretty good showing considering he’s been out of action for 20 months with a knee injury. He’ll be hoping to cause problems for the Pittsburgh offense which averaged 411.1 yards a game last year, which was second best in the league. The 49’ers go into this game at 4-5-1 against the spread in their last 10 outings and are 4-6 straight up.
The Steelers offense isn’t as effective with wide receiver Martavis Bryant and running back Le’Veon Bell missing from the lineup. But they’re both serving suspensions and won’t be available against San Francisco. Their absence was noticeable in the loss to the Patriots and Pittsburgh’s defense was ripped apart by Brady and Gronkowski. Brady went 19 for 19 in passing during one stretch, which set a New England record and finished the game with 288 yards by going 25 for 32. Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went 26 for 30 for 351 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He finished the game with a passer rating of 95.4. Wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back DeAngelo Williams also had good games.
Brown caught nine passes for 133 yards which gave him 33 straight games with at least 50 yards and five receptions. Newcomer Williams carried the ball 21 times for 127 yards and gained five more yards with a reception. The Steelers’ passing game gained 301.6 yards per game in 2014 to rank second in the league and the 49’ers will need to be wary of it. Pittsburgh is 6-4 against the spread in their past 10 games as favorites and 7-3 straight up.
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