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Friday Factoid: The history behind the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers

A few Friday factoids to get you psyched up and ready for Sunday's game.

By Dani Bostick
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Welcome to Friday Factoid! The Steelers face off against the 49ers in Pittsburgh this Sunday in Pittsburgh's Week 2 home opener. The 49ers are 1-0; the Steelers 0-1. The loss to the New England Patriots has rattled the fan base, especially since the Steelers secondary still hasn't seemed to gel.

However, the 49ers have had one of the worst off seasons in the entire league, and although they won their season opener, they have several weak points on their roster as well. Plus, they will be facing off with the Steelers at Heinz Field, which is no easy task.

Here are a few facts to consider as you start looking forward to the first home game of the 2015 season.

1) The Steelers are facing the 49-ers for the 21st time.

2) San Francisco leads the series overall 11-9.

3) Surprisingly, the 49ers have gone 6-4 when facing the Steelers in Pittsburgh.

4) The two teams haven't met since 2011 when the Steelers lost 3-20 in San Francisco on Monday Night Football when the power went out at Candlestick Park.

5) Since the start of the Tomlin Era in 2007, the Steelers have won seven of their eight home openers:

  • 2007: Week 2 victory against the Bills 26-3
  • 2008: Week 1 victory against the Texans 38-17
  • 2009: Week 1 victory against the Titans 13-10
  • 2010: Week 1 victory against the Falcons 15-9
  • 2011: Week 2 victory against the Seahawks 24-0
  • 2012: Week 2 victory against the Jets 27-10
  • 2013: Week 1 loss to the Titans 9-16
  • 2014: Week 1 victory against the Browns 30-27

6) Here are the Tomlin Era stats against the 49ers in the regular season:

  • 2007: Steelers win at home 37-16
  • 2011: Steelers lose away 3-20

7) Last time the two teams met:

  • Ben Roethlisberger threw for 330 yards with three interceptions and no touchdowns. The team had two fumbles, one of which was a turnover.
  • The 49ers were led by Alex Smith who had 187 yards and 1 touchdown. Smith did not throw any interceptions during that game.
  • Defensively, the Steelers played a poor game with only four passes defensed. To contrast, the 49ers had nine.
  • Shaun Suisham was 1/2 on field goals.
What does this mean for the Steelers? First, they do well in home openers. Very well. Second, the Steelers need to be careful because the last time the met up with the 49ers, they put up a lot of offensive yardage and still lost the game. They also had three turnovers. There is not much room for those types of mistakes in Sunday's match up.

Finally, there has been a lot of concern about the Steelers defense. Guess what? An all-star Steelers defense featuring Troy Polamalu, Lawrence Timmons, Jason Worilds, Ryan Clark, Ziggy Hood, James Farrior, and Ike Taylor wasn't good enough to stop the 49ers in 2011.

The Steelers will hope to even out their record when they host the 49ers Sunday at Heinz field at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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