The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Will Mitch Trubisky prove to be worth the money?
The Pittsburgh Steelers made the decision in 2022 to pay Mitch Trubisky well for what they understood would be, at best, a transitional starting opportunity. They likely knew even before signing him that they intended to try to draft Kenny Pickett, and if it were not Pickett, it may have been some other quarterback by now.
But they accepted the fee as a middle ground between a high-quality backup and a low-level transitional starter. And then they decided to re-up with an extension this offseason with the desire to keep him around as Pickett’s number two.
Chances are he will have the opportunity to start the next three games, if not more. He will have the opportunity during this time to attempt to prove to be worth that money, particularly in a year in which so many starting quarterbacks have gotten injured.
Trubisky has only made one start as a backup for the Steelers since he was first benched a year ago, playing a conservative style prior to his demotion that was unsuited to him. He did play well in that one start, though his work off the bench since then has been less consistent. He does have 25 percent of the team’s touchdown passes this year, somehow, which is…sad.
His first assignment will be the New England Patriots, who, while awful, have been keeping opponents off the scoreboard the past three weeks. The win over the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to show promise of new life for the offense, but they repeatedly stumbled over their own feet this Sunday in losing to the Arizona Cardinals.
Provided that the offense doesn’t sabotage itself with entirely avoidable mistakes, one would hope that the offense should operate smoothly and with relative effectiveness with Trubisky under center. Failing that, it would be interesting to see how long his leash is if it bleeds into multiple games.
