SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The Steelers are mad as hell. Whether or not they're going to take any more -- to steal a line from the movie "Network" — well, that remains to be seen.
With Mason Rudolph making his first career start, the Steelers' defense helped the young quarterback out as much as it possibly could have, forcing five turnovers.
Well, "forcing" might be a bit of a stretch. The 49ers helped that out, as well, as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo mishandled a couple of snaps that were recovered by the Steelers.
The Steelers' offense, however, only turned those five miscues into six points, while the 49ers took full advantage of the two turnovers they forced, converting both into touchdowns, in a 24-20 victory here at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.
The end result is an 0-3 start for the Steelers. The 49ers improved to 3-0.
"I’m so in the moment and pissed off. This team is good," Cameron Heyward said. "And we’re not finishing the damn games. That goes on me, and it goes on everyone in this locker room. We’ve got to find a way to finish the damn game."
It looked like the fifth turnover of the game for the 49ers might have done it. The Steelers held a 20-17 lead following a 39-yard touchdown pass from Rudolph to rookie Diontae Johnson:
After, the 49ers drove to the Pittsburgh 7 with just under seven minutes to play. But the shotgun snap appeared to hit motion man Richie James, and T.J. Watt fell on the loose ball at the 14.
James Conner had a five-yard run, then caught a five-yard pass from Rudolph to convert a first down. On his next run, however, he was tackled by Arik Armstead and fumbled, with DeForest Buckner falling on the loose ball at the 24.
"I thought I was down there," Conner said.
That was certainly not the case, but the defense appeared as if it might get another stop as a holding penalty pushed the 49ers back. But on third-and-11 from the 14, as Cam Sutton broke up a pass intended for Dante Pettis in the end zone, linebacker Mark Barron was penalized for defensive holding, giving the 49ers a new set of downs.
Two plays later, Garoppolo connected with Pettis for a five-yard touchdown pass and the lead with 1:15 remaining in the game.
The Steelers got the ball back, but failed to move the ball, turning it over on downs.
"We got turnovers in the first half, we settled for field goals," Mike Tomlin said. "They got turnovers in the second half and scored touchdowns. Thus, the outcome."
Rudolph, taking over for an injured Ben Roethlisberger who will have elbow surgery this week, took the blame for that.
While he finished 14 of 27 for 174 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, he was 8 of 15 for 40 yards in the first half, when the defense got four of its five turnovers. That amounted to just a 6-3 lead.
"We just came out slow and I’m to blame more than anyone," Rudolph said. "We’ve got to convert those third downs, those possession downs. We’ve got to convert. We had opportunities. Guys were in the right spots. I’ve got to be better in those situations and give our team chances to extend drives."
Rudolph took a lot of checkdowns early in the game. And when he did go downfield in the first half, he typically missed high.
Might the adrenaline from making his first career start have been in play?
"Yeah," Johnson replied when I asked him if Rudolph might have been too anxious on some of those plays. "It happens. As the game went on, he got more comfortable and we started making more plays for him. I thought he really relaxed a little bit more."
Rudolph threw a 76-yard touchdown to JuJu Smith-Schuster in the third quarter that gave the Steelers a 13-10 lead at the time.
But the 49ers answered that score with one of their own, driving the length of the field to take the lead.
It was reminiscent to what happened in last week's 28-26 loss to the Seahawks, when the defense seemingly wore down as the game went on. The defense was on the field for 72 plays -- compared to 51 for the offense -- in that game. In this one, it was even more lopsided. The 49ers ran 73 plays. The Steelers had 51, as the offense again struggled on third downs.
The Steelers converted just 3 of 12 third downs, making them 9 for 35 (25.7 percent) this season.
"I told Cam (Heyward) that. That game is on us," Rudolph said of the offense. "'We’ve got to do something with the turnovers in the first half. Momentum was swinging to the defense. We’ve got to put more points on the board for you guys.'"
But it didn't happen. And now the Steelers are 0-3.
"It had a lasting effect," Heyward admitted regarding being on the field that many plays.
But, he added, "Good defenses get off the field. We didn't get off the field in the second half."
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