Chris Carter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, hosts the Locked on Steelers podcast.

The Pittsburgh Steelers lost badly to the San Francisco 49ers in a 30-7 beatdown in Sunday's week 1 game. But the Steelers' biggest mistakes came in moments that were less about the 49ers, and more about themselves. Their biggest mistakes came on fixable plays and missed opportunities for both their offense and defense.

On offense, Kenny Pickett just missed very makeable throws. A film review by Chris Carter shows that Matt Canada schemed up very makeable passes on key third downs, but Pickett either didn't see the open players, or missed them on what should've been routine plays. It was a very bad day for the Steelers' quarterback, but he's shown the ability to bounce back before, and will need to do some key things to do so again.

On defense, the Steelers got dominated on the ground, and that led to their problems in the air. Christian McCaffrey was allowed to run all over the Steelers, and it kept them from winning on the later downs when Brock Purdy picked them apart. Is a change at quarterback needed?

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Theme music is 'Soul Kick' by Ceddy P, and 'Too Easy' by Nerdboy. Both from their label Renaissance Music. Find more from their label here.

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