Mike Tomlin: ‘We got kicked in the teeth’ in loss to 49ers

Mike Tomlin hasn’t often ended up on the wrong side of a home loss that’s too lopsided during his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This year’s season opener, though, was the exception as the San Francisco 49ers came to Acrisure Stadium and gave him the worst home defeat of his tenure with the franchise.

Following the 30-7 loss, Tomlin said that he and the Steelers took full responsibility for what took place during his postgame press conference. While he gave San Francisco their due credit, he also realizes how much better that Pittsburgh needs to play considering how they were punked at times on Sunday.

“We accept responsibility obviously for the outcome. We compliment those guys on the quality of work that they did, we absorb the negativity that comes with how we performed today, and we go back to work,” Tomlin said. “(Our staff) has got to prepare them better. They’ve got to play better. That’s just the reality of it.”

“We got kicked in the teeth today in a lot of ways,” admitted Tomlin.

San Franciso was up 20-0 in the first half before a late touchdown made it 20-7 at halftime. Still, it didn’t get any better for the Steelers as the 49ers shut them out in the second half too.

On defense, Pittsburgh gave up 391 yards of offense, which was good for 5.9 yards per play this afternoon. Most of that came on the ground as San Francisco rushed for 188 yards, four times more than the Steelers. Christian McCaffrey put up 152 of those on his own and a touchdown.

However, it was the offense that really struggled. Kenny Pickett threw a pair of interceptions to bring his career total to 11 in 14 appearances. Overall, the unit as a whole put up over 150 fewer yards and only found the endzone once.

Again, this doesn’t happen much in Pittsburgh with this outcome being the most uneven of Tomlin’s time with the black and yellow. That’s why even he had to confess how discouraging this week one performance was from their team.

“Disappointing day for us,” said Tomlin. “Not how we wanted to perform.”

Pickett zips touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth

With 10 seconds left in the second quarter, Pittsburgh Steelers QB Kenny Pickett connected on a three-yard dime to TE Pat Freiermuth. That throw cut the San Francisco 49ers’ lead to 20-7 at halftime.

The Steelers desperately needed the score. The 49ers have hogged the momentum today, rattling off 222 total yards. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh amassed a mere 77 yards of offense in the first half while also committing a turnover.