San Francisco 49ers: Game breakdown and prediction for Week 3 against Pittsburgh Steelers

It’s the first home game of the season for the San Francisco 49ers and they get to welcome in a Ben Roethlisberger-less Pittsburgh Steelers team that’s 0-2 to start the year.

Let’s take a look at this Week 3 game for the San Francisco 49ers because it’s a very favorable matchup for them and I’m interested to see how they come out of this contest.

The 49ers come into this game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at 2-0 with their first two wins being on the road. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, comes in at 0-2 with Ben Roethlisberger out for the year with a throwing elbow injury.

Mason Rudolph out of Oklahoma State will be under center for the Steelers, and although Rudolph is a gunslinger in every sense of the word, this solid 49ers secondary can do a number on him.

Already with four interceptions, which is third in the league up to this point, San Francisco’s secondary has done a great job against Jameis Winston and Andy Dalton in stifling them in the passing game.

Now with a matchup against a rookie quarterback in his second pro game, this should be another prime opportunity for them to put on another big performance.

Here’s where they have to be careful, however. Mason Rudolph and James Washington have a ton of chemistry. They were teammates at Oklahoma State. They both put on a clinic together in the OSU offense.

And judging by how Washington has performed in the preseason with Rudolph under center as opposed to guys like Roethlisberger/Josh Dobbs (when he was on the team), he’s much more comfortable with his OSU buddy throwing passes to him than any of the other QBs on this roster.

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JuJu Smith-Schuster will be the number one receiver to lock down. Vance McDonald could be the second judging by his performance last week. But Washington could be a guy who slips past this 40ers secondary and has a huge day if they’re not careful.

James Conner is banged up, so the run game might not be as potent. If indeed the Steelers let Rudolph loose in the passing game, I would think he will be targeting his OSU friend often downfield.

On the Niners’ offensive side, Jimmy Garoppolo had a bounceback Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, but now he faces a pretty tough Steelers defense with a legit pass rush and linebacking core.

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From what I gather of this offense, they’ll probably spread the ball out to the three running backs in Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson — Wilson especially down at the goal line.

In the passing game, George Kittle is the obvious No. 1 target Garoppolo should be looking for. Though targeted only three times last week in Cincinnati, Kittle is still the best option for this offense to throw to in the middle of the field.

He was used more in a diversionary role last week to open up space for Deebo Samuel and Marquise Goodwin, but with both of those receivers now on defenses’ radars, I think Kittle will get himself another 8-10 targets and maybe a touchdown.

I have the 49ers winning this game 27-18. Solid performance by the Niners defense. Maybe not as dominant in the pass rush going up against a stout Steelers offensive line. But the secondary and the linebackers should be very effective.

Mike Tomlin isn’t terribly successful in West Coast games — career 1-5 record — and now with Roethlisberger out, I think it’ll be even tougher to break that streak. I think the 49ers move to 3-0 here and beat a perennial playoff contender in Pittsburgh.