The hits keep coming for veteran Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
Just two games into his tenure as the new starting quarterback of the Steelers, Trubisky is off to a rather rough start as the black and gold have scored just two offense touchdowns on the season. Those struggles have led to calls for his job and the Steelers to turn to rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett.
That’s unlikely to happen, but there’s no doubt that there remains major question marks regarding Trubisky not only in the fan base and with the local media, but nationally as well. NFL.com’s Marc Sessler, who puts out a weekly QB Index ranking the QBs in the NFL 1-32, dropped Trubisky three spots to No. 27 overall after his frustrating performance against the New England Patriots in Week 2.
A lot of it has to do with the lack of trust the Steelers are placing in Trubisky as a quarterback from a scheme standpoint, as well as Trubisky’s struggles to clearly see the field, take chances downfield and really try and make plays with the football in his hands.
“The Steelers haven’t trusted Trubisky to do much of anything. His throw chart after two games resembles something out of a Pop Warner grudge match,” Sessler writes regarding Trubisky in his ranking. “Mike Tomlin might like Trubisky’s mobility, but how do you survive a season with your quarterback posting a measly figure of 5.1 yards per pass attempt? Mitch has shown chemistry with Diontae Johnson, but Chase Claypool and George Pickens have combined for 70 yards over two weeks. The vanilla scheme has players chirping.”
It’s not great right now, and that’s putting it mildly.
The 5.1 yards per pass attempt are rather frustrating, especially coupled with the fact that, according to NextGenStats, Trubisky is averaging 2.61 seconds time to throw. Those two don’t quite add up. Is it scheme? Is it Trubisky? How about it being both? The Steelers absolutely haven’t trusted Trubisky, and he hasn’t trusted himself as he is playing not to lose his job, and the Steelers are asking him not to lose the game.
That’s caused him to plummet towards the bottom of the league at the quarterback position, barely ahead of Chicago’s Justin Fields, Carolina’s Baker Mayfield and Cleveland’s Jacoby Brissett, just to name a few.
Nobody is asking Trubisky to be a savior or a franchise quarterback at this stage of his career. That said, letting him play to his strengths and taking some of the reins off of him would be a nice start to see what he can do when he’s allowed to play freely.
