49ers 30, Steelers 7: Grades

What an impressive win.

PITTSBURGH -- The 49ers just beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-7 on the road. Here are the 49ers' grades.

BROCK PURDY: B-PLUS. 

Threw for a respectable 220 yards and two touchdowns, plus he scrambled three times for 20 yards. Looked completely in command of the 49ers offensive scheme. Played with timing and confidence, unlike the Steelers second-year quarterback, Kenny Pickett, who stinks. Purdy does not stink -- he's quite good, even though he clearly has less zip on his throws this year than last year before he had elbow surgery. Every pass he threw today floated through the air. His best throw was a 19-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk, who was tightly covered by Patrick Peterson. Otherwise, almost all of Purdy's completions went to wide open receivers -- give him credit for finding them. But he also threw one pass that nearly got intercepted, plus he fumbled twice and recovered one of them. Which means he got somewhat lucky. A better opponent might have made him pay for those mistakes. But the Steelers were awful, while Purdy mostly played well in a big road game.

RUNNING BACKS: A.

Christian McCaffrey is such a pleasure to watch. He's the best 49ers running back I can remember -- even better than Frank Gore (Roger Craig was before my time). Today, he gained 169 yards from scrimmage and had a 65-yard touchdown run. If anything, the 49ers used him too much -- he touched the ball 25 times and played well into the fourth quarter. That's because his backup, Elijah Mitchell, gained just 10 yards on 5 carries. Kyle Juszczyk never touched the ball.

WIDE RECEIVERS: A.

Brandon Aiyuk quietly has become the 49ers' No. 1 option in the pass game. Today, he led all players with 8 targets, 8 catches, 129 receiving yards and two touchdown catches. If he keeps this up, the 49ers might not be able to afford Aiyuk's extension next season. That's because they already gave a monster extension to Deebo Samuel, who had 63 yards from scrimmage and no touchdowns in this game. Jauan Jennings had no catches.

TIGHT ENDS: C.

George Kittle made some nice blocks, but caught just 3 passes and gained only 17 yards. The 49ers pay Kittle a ton of money to produce such meager numbers. But to be fair, the 49ers didn't need him to produce today. And when they need him to step up later in the season, he will, because he always does.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN: B.

They blocked well in the run game, but the right side of the offensive line continues to be an issue. Right guard Spencer Burford committed a false start, a hold and facemask penalty. And right tackle Colton McKivitz gave up sacks to T.J. Watt on back-to-back plays. The second sack resulted in a strip fumble for Brock Purdy. The 49ers will have to work around McKivitz all season, and that means running the ball as much as possible.

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN: A.

These guys won the game for the 49ers, particularly Javon Hargrave and Arik Armstead. They collapsed the pocket almost every time the Steelers dropped back to pass in the first half. Remember, Hargrave is in his first season with the 49ers and Armstead was injured most of last year, so their push in the middle of the defense is something the 49ers didn't get last year. As a result, Drake Jackson recorded a whopping three sacks after Pickett scrambled right into him. And here's the kicker -- Nick Bosa recorded zero sacks and made almost no impact. The 49ers could have won easily without him. Scary.

LINEBACKERS: A.

Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw combined to record 14 tackles, and the Steelers rushed for just 41 yards. That's dominance.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: B.

They gave up a passer rating of just 68.4, and Charvarius Ward and Talanoa Hufanga each recorded one interception -- they were outstanding. Deommodore Lenoir was not -- he committed two penalties on the one drive that led to the Steelers' one touchdown. And Ambry Thomas gave up four catches during that drive before leaving the game with a concussion and getting replaced by Isaiah Oliver. Which means the 49ers have an issue at cornerback -- an issue the Steelers couldn't exploit because their offense is stuck in the stone age.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A.

Jake Moody made all of his kicks, and Mitch Wishnowsky pinned the Steelers inside their 10-yard line three times.

COACHES: A.

They didn't have to do much. Steve Wilks called vanilla coverages and rushed four defensive linemen who completely took over the game -- the same thing DeMeco Ryans and Robert Saleh used to do when they were calling plays for the 49ers defense. Credit to Wilks for not changing what works. And credit to Kyle Shanahan for having his team ready to play its best across the country in a hostile environment. Lots of analysts expected the 49ers to start slow and lose this game to the Steelers, who often start fast. But the 49ers made the Steelers look sluggish, young and unprepared. Shanahan mostly did a great job protecting Purdy, until he got pass-happy up 20 points in the second half and Purdy got sacked twice. Then Shanahan wisely returned to the run, but stuck with McCaffrey for too long. You'd like to see Shanahan pull his starters a bit sooner and keep them fresh for the long season. But that's nitpicking. Shanahan was excellent today. He made Mike Tomlin and the Steelers look like frauds.