Stephen A. Smith says he's 'very depressed' after Steelers loss to 49ers

Many had high hopes for the Pittsburgh Steelers heading into the NFL season, but the San Francisco 49ers quickly put an end to that hype on Sunday with a 30-7 win over Pittsburgh in their house.

‘First Take’ host Stephen A. Smith is a longtime Steelers fan who’s feeling a little worrisome about his squad after Week 1, which he discussed Monday on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’, but first gave a quick evaluation of the 49ers.

“Well first of all with the Niners that’s a foregone conclusion, I expect to see them in the NFC Championship game. It’s just that simple,” Smith said. “Whether it’s gonna be against the Cowboys or the Eagles remains to be seen, but I think it’ll be the 49ers against one of those teams. That’s number one.”

“Number two, I will tell you this, when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers I’m very depressed because I’ve been a lifelong, die-hard Steelers fan and this is the first time that I’ve ever contemplated them finishing in last place within their own division,” Smith addmitted.

To gain more perspective on where the Steelers stand in the AFC North, Smith broke down the division. Starting with two teams that many have high hopes for this season thanks to their proven and elite quarterbacks, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens.

“Lets count the ways, Joe Burrow stunk up the joint yesterday. Do we really think that’s going to last? We know better, we know what a super star he is, he’ll be fine,” Smith said. “We look at Lamar Jackson now having Odell Beckham Jr. and Zay Flowers and those boys. They lost JK Dobbins, we understand that’s not a good thing, but still be exceptionally well coached by [John] Harbaugh, being led by Lamar Jackson, having some rough riders on the defensive side of the ball. Do we really expect them to fall off? No.”

The Cleveland Browns had an impressive Week 1 showing versus Cincinnati, and also sneakily possess one of the more talented rosters in the NFL, which raises some concern for Smith and his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers as it relates to the ACF North.

“So it comes down to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. And even though Deshaun Watson has some making-up to do, he doesn’t look like himself as of yet. When we look at [Myles] Garrett and the impact he has, we look at Nick Chubb and the way he can run the football, when we look at them having a number one receiver in Amari Cooper, [Donovan] Peoples-Jones can play as well, [David] Njoku can play at the tight end spot,” Smith said. “You just look at the arsenal that the Cleveland Browns have had, they have flown under the radar.”

“We’ve talked about Burrow’s new deal, we’ve talked about Lamar Jackson’s deal before that. We’ve talked about people that they’ve drafted, we’ve talked about the Pittsburgh Steelers and what we’re hoping. But we’ve looked at the Cleveland Browns and we’ve paid little to no attention to them, and then they go against Cincinnati and hold them to three points and beat them 24-3.”

The Steelers are led by one of the greatest head coaches in the NFL with Mike Tomlin at the helm, boasting a solid defense and a young core of players looking to take a leap this season. But is that enough for Pittsburgh to not finish last in their division amongst their peers? Stephen A. Smith certainly thinks it’s a question worth asking following Week 1.

“You gotta pay attention to stuff like that and ask ourselves where do the Steelers fit in that equation? When you’ve got a second year quarterback with small hands and an even smaller resume compared to the guys that I’ve mentioned. I mean what the hell are you going to be able to do?” Smith asked. “They had three sacks, TJ Watt had all of them, nobody else recorded a sack. And San Francisco punked them, let’s just call it what it is, they punked them yesterday.”