Now here’s what should amount to a good ol’ slobberknocker of a matchup between two of the best defenses in the league this year.  The Steelers come off a lackadaisical effort against a vastly inferior Browns team on Thursday night last week, winning in a similar sleepwalking manner as they did when they beat the Chiefs a couple of weeks back.  Pittsburgh has had a way of falling asleep at the wheel against inferior opponents lately, but will still get up just fine against top competition.  The 49ers come off a surprising loss to the Cardinals last week, letting a team score three touchdowns on them for the first time since their loss against the Cowboys way back in week 3.  Unfortunately for the 49ers, the Steelers sport the kind of offense that gave them fits in the desert; one that passed a lot and went for the big plays, which the Cardinals proved last week can beat the 49ers.

As long as Ben Roethlisberger is breathing, the dude is playing.  For all of you out there worried about him, I say don’t… he’ll play.  More the problem in my mind is the matchup here, because the 49ers don’t score many touchdowns, so if Ben can lead a couple of TD drives in the game, he won’t be needed to gunsling a bunch of scores.  I would expect his numbers to be a little lower in this one, maybe around 250 total yards and a couple of scores with an interception.  Serviceable, but if you have a better option you’ve been playing matchups with (like in the Eli Manning, Cam Newton, Matthew Stafford variety), you should probably roll with that.

The Steelers receiving game should be played regardless of matchup as long as Big Ben is in the lineup.  Mike Wallace hasn’t gone over 100 yards since week 7, but he has scored some touchdowns since then and he’s always a threat to take it the distance any time he catches the ball, so you have to play him.  Wallace probably will get at least one or two chances to grab a long ball, and on the big stage of Monday Night Football it wouldn’t be a surprise for his stat line to read around 4 or 5 catches for 90+ yards and a long score.  You also have to play Antonio Brown, who has lead the team in targets and yards in the last few weeks, and is now the new and improved version of Hines Ward.  Look for him to be solid as well, catching his normal 6 or 7 passes for around 70 or 80 yards.
What you don’t want to do is play either team’s running game if at all possible, as Frank Gore and Rashard Mendenhall will find the running lanes tightly closed.  If you have Gore you probably have to play him, but don’t expect much more than 50 or 60 yards from him and a close in score if you’re lucky.  For Mendenhall, he’s been terrible on the road anyhow and against a top 5 defense… fuggetaboutit.

Good Start:  WR Mike Wallace, WR Antonio Brown, WR Michael Crabtree

Middle of the Road:  QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Frank Gore, TE Vernon Davis

Bad Start:  RB Rashard Mendenhall, WR Hines Ward, TE Heath Miller, QB Alex Smith, RB Kendall Hunter

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