If I would have told you before the game the Pittsburgh Steelers could generate five turnovers you’d be pretty confident they came out on top. But unfortunately, despite winning the turnover battle by three, the Steelers still lost to the San Francisco 49ers 24-20.
But you don’t have to overcomplicate the reasons. In fact, it is quite simple. Pittsburgh forced two turnovers early in the first half and in both cases, they turned those turnovers into field goals.
By contrast, the Steelers turned the football over twice in the second half and the 49ers took those splash plays and turned them into touchdowns.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin noted this is the post-game press conference as well. Getting turnovers is great but the Steelers didn’t know what to do with them when they got them. Not only did the team not turn them into touchdowns, they often were back of the field so quickly they didn’t even give their defense a chance to catch its breath.
