Prior to Mike Tomlin’s press conference yesterday, the Pittsburgh Steelers released their team captains and official Week 1 depth chart before their upcoming matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals this upcoming Sunday. QB Mitch Trubisky was elected a team captain and was listed as QB1 on the depth chart, foreshadowing that Tomlin had decided to name him the starter, which he did officially Tuesday.
When asked about the locker room’s reaction to him being named the starting QB, Trubisky said that while his teammates were excited for him, it wasn’t as big of a deal as others on the outside of the organization are making it out to be.
“It was a little bit of both,” Trubisky said to the media via video provided by the team’s website. “I think everybody kind of anticipated as well, business as usual. I think that’s just how we do things around here, but guys were excited and there was definitely congratulatory. Same thing with being voted captain. Kind of got the same response. So, it’s been positive. I love my teammates here and I’m just excited to go on this ride together.”
While Trubisky is thankful for the congratulations he received for officially being named the team’s starting QB for the regular season, he ultimately didn’t think that it was much of a talking point. He mentioned earlier in the same presser that Tomlin had approached him last week and told him he was going to be named the starter, giving him the confidence as the team transitioned from preseason play to the regular season.
While Trubisky technically had been in competition for the starting job with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph since training camp began, Pittsburgh made it clear that their intention was to go with Trubisky barring a complete flop during preseason play. He was the first-string QB for OTAs, mandatory minicamp, training camp, and the team’s three preseason games, taking a vast majority of the first-team snaps as Pittsburgh prepared for its upcoming opponents.
While Trubisky can be grateful he has been given another chance to start in the NFL, he does recognize what the standard is here in Pittsburgh. Players care less about who wins a starting job and more about the results of the team on the football field. The standard is playoff appearances, playoff wins, and the pursuit of Super Bowls. Thus, trivial things like winning the starting QB job as a veteran should be considered business as usual like Trubisky states above.
Now it’s up to him to show the team that he is worthy of his captaincy as well as being the starting QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers by leading the offense and helping the team return to playing winning football in 2022.
