San Francisco 49ers (10-3) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3)

This is a huge game for both teams on Monday Night Football as they would each like a bye in the first week of the playoffs.  The Niners have now lost two of their last three games.  The Steelers have won 4 games in a row and 8 of their last 9 games, so they are red hot right now.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game: When the 49ers have the ball:  The 49ers aren’t going to change.  They are going to run the ball first with Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter against a Steelers’ D that is giving up 97.0 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry.  They are likely to stick with the running game, which for some reason teams have not done against the Steelers.  The Niners must protect Alex Smith in this game as he was sacked 9 times just three weeks ago by the Ravens.  The Steelers are going to be blitzing when they get off the team bus on Monday Night.  The way to beat the blitz is with short passes.  That means that Smith is going to need to get back to throwing to ...