2011 Pittsburgh Steelers Season Preview – Steelers vs. 49ers

Two great teams, both with dynasties in their past, will go head to head in San Francisco this year when the Men of Steel travel out to NoCal.

The 49ers dynasty took place immediately after the Steelers won the fourth of their four championships in six years. Their last Super Bowl win was in 1994.

The 49ers are a proud football franchise and rightfully so. They were the first NFL franchise to win five Super Bowls. They have had some of the best to ever play the game on their roster, and they had one of the best and most innovative coaches ever to partol the sideline.

Thankfully, the Mighty Black and Gold will not have to face Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young or Bill Walsh this year.

The 49ers have fallen on hard times recently. They have not appeared in the playoffs since 2002 when they went one-and-done when they beat the Giants in the Wild Card round, and then fell to the Buccaneers in the Divisional round.

Recent History

The 49ers have been around since 1946. Considering the length of time they have both been in the league, it is remarkable these two teams have only played 13 times. They have never met in the playoffs or the Super Bowl.

Since the division realignment, the teams have only met twice, splitting the two games.

The most recent meeting was in Pittsburgh on Sept. 23, 2007. The Steelers won going away, 37-16. That win avenged a sound beating the Steelers took the last time they were in the city by the bay. On Nov. 17, 2003, the Steelers lost 30-14 at San Francisco.

For the entire series, the Steelers lead 7-6.

San Francisco’s offense vs. Pittsburgh’s defense

The 49ers offense struggled to produce last year, to say the least. They were ranked 24th in the league for yards per game with 313.3, and were 24th in points per game (19.1). Continuing the trend, using footballoutsiders.com’s Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA), the 49ers were 24th on offense with a score of -7.3%. This means that the 49ers offense was 7.3% worse than the average offense.

Part of the problem is that they do not have a “name” quarterback. Right now, their starter would be either David Carr or Alex Smith. You remember Carr, don’t you? He spent the first nine years of his career running for his life in Houston and Carolina, or holding a clipboard behind Eli Manning for the Giants. Alex Smith was drafted in the first round by the 49ers in 2005, but has been very underwhelming. One might say he is a bust of a pick.

The 49ers took QB Colin Kaepernick in the second round this year’s draft and one has to assume there will be a good, old-fashioned competition for who will start opening day.

Whether it’s Carr, Smith or the rookie, it’s a pretty sure bet none of them will dramatically improve the 49ers’s passing offense. They were 18th in the league in passing yards per game, 24th (again) in passing DVOA, and 24th (I can’t make this up) in passing touchdowns.

Frank Gore was the man running the ball in San Francisco, but he fractured his hip in week 12 last year and was placed on IR. One has to think he secretly hoping for the lockout to continue so he might have more time to rehab his injury.

Gore was having a nice season when he got hurt. His 77.5 yards per game put him on pace to get 1240 yards rushing had he finished the season, but he was sorely lacking in the touchdown department, scoring only three times in twelve games.

Brian Westbrook and Anthony Dixon both had 70+ carries on the year with Westbrook getting four touchdowns, but the team only had 10 rushing TDs. While that wasn’t the worst rushing TD total for the year, it certainly wasn’t the best.

Even with Pittsburgh’s notable struggles defending the pass, I can’t see the 49ers being able to move the ball effectively against the Steel Curtain.