Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: QB Mitch Trubisky
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: In his second start filling in for Kenny Pickett, Trubisky continued to struggle, tossing two interceptions and being pulled before the end of the game. Head coach Mike Tomlin would not commit to returning him to the starting lineup next week provided that Pickett remains out with an ankle injury.
How can you start anywhere else working off a game in which the starting quarterback is benched? The first stock evaluation following the loss to the Indianapolis Colts has to be QB Mitch Trubisky, whom one might feel may have just played his last snap as a Pittsburgh Steeler.
Originally signed as a likely bridge starter a year ago following Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement, he was quickly put on the clock when the Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett. His stint as starter lasted four games last year before being pulled. He was benched or the second time in the Black and Gold yesterday, this time starting in place of an injured Pickett and in favor of Mason Rudolph.
He was a benching he earned, completing 16 of 23 pass attempts for 169 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, on one of which he said WR George Pickens took a different angle than he anticipated. Frankly, his stat line does not do justice to the poor quality of his performance—if it did, he wouldn’t have been pulled.
Some of his best plays came on third-and-long situations that he helped put the team in in the first place, but generally speaking, they did not move the ball. The second drive was the only one of note, and that began at the 46-yard line following a long missed field goal.
It took four downs from the seven-yard line to get into the end zone. And even then, Trubisky, running a sneak, fumbled. It was determined that he broke the plane first, and even if he hadn’t, RB Najee Harris scooped it up and took it into the end zone anyway, but it seems fitting symbolic that this is how it played out.
Make no mistake, this was a day on which the Steelers had many problems, but Trubisky was probably the biggest. Not much can surprise me about this team any more, but I would be surprised if Mike Tomlin actually puts him back in the starting lineup the next time they take the field. He just hasn’t earned the right.
