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."
MINKAH'S DEBUT
Lost in all of the hoopla surrounding Rudolph's first career start was Minkah Fitzpatrick's debut with the Steelers.
The defensive back, acquired from the Dolphins Monday night along with a pair of late-round draft picks for a 2020 first-round draft pick and two late-round draft picks, started at free safety and played the entire game -- all 73 defensive snaps.
And had the Steelers won this game, Fitzpatrick would have been perhaps the biggest reason.
The second-year safety had an interception off a pass that glanced off the hands of Pettis in the first quarter to set up the Steelers' second field goal, then forced a fumble on the first play of the second quarter with a strong hit on running back Raheem Mostert.
In addition to the interception and forced fumble, he finished with five tackles and a quarterback hit. He also, however, drew a roughing-the-passer penalty.
"They kept it simple for the most part," Fitzpatrick said of the coaching staff and how he was incorporated in the defense, despite not joining the Steelers in Pittsburgh until Tuesday afternoon.
"They allowed me to play fast. I felt like I did that."
0-and-!@#$@#!$#@
The Steelers are 0-3 for the first time since 2013, when they lost their first four games and was 2-6 at the midway point of the season. They rallied to finish 8-8 that season and nearly made the playoffs.
But nobody was in any kind of mood to think about anything other than this 0-3 start, especially in a game in which the defense had five turnovers, one third of the total they had in all of 2018.
"Having that many turnovers and not finishing is the hard part," David DeCastro said. "We could have put up more points earlier in the game. It's just a tough way to go all around."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE NOTES
The Steelers are now 4-20-1 all-time in games in which they have a quarterback making his first career start. ... The 49ers held a 36:17 to 23:43 advantage in time of possession. ... Rookie inside linebacker Devin Bush led the Steelers with 11 tackles. Bush also recovered two fumbles, giving him three for the season. ... Safety Terrell Edmunds had 10 tackles. ... Jordan Berry averaged 52.3 yards on six punts in the game. ... Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle led all receivers with six receptions in the game, but had only 57 yards. ... The 49ers rushed the ball 40 times for 168 yards. ... The five forced turnovers for the Steelers were the most since they forced seven in a game against the Titans in 2010. ... Stephon Tuitt had the Steelers' lone sack. He now has 3.5 sacks in the past two games.
THE INJURIES
• Vance McDonald (Shoulder, did not return)
• Cam Heyward (abdomen, returned)
• Joe Haden (shoulder, returned)
• Anthony Chickillo (Foot, DNP)
• Roosevelt Nix (Knee, DNP)
• Vince Williams (Hamstring, DNP)
THE SCHEDULE
The Steelers will return home to play the Bengals (0-3) next Monday night in their first AFC North game. In the meantime, the players are off Monday and return to the facility Tuesday with media availability from 1:30-2:15 p.m.
THE COVERAGE
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MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. 49ers, Santa Clara, Calif., Sept. 22, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS 
