One week ago, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger appeared on 93.7 The Fan’s morning show with co-hosts Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson and stated that there wouldn’t be much of a drop-off — if at all — from quarterback Kenny Pickett to Mitch Trubisky as the Steelers pushed down the stretch toward the playoffs.
Turns out, there was a significant drop-off right away in Week 14 against the New England Patriots.
Trubisky was the worst-graded quarterback in the NFL in Week 14 from Pro Football Focus. He threw one costly interception that led to a Patriots touchdown and nearly had two other passes intercepted in the Steelers’ 21-18 loss.
For Spielberger, the Thursday night showing against the Patriots made one thing crystal clear: no matter who is at quarterback for the Steelers, the offensive scheme is as bad as it gets and isn’t helping anyone succeed in Pittsburgh.
“I guess I was wrong last week when I said that the drop-off wasn’t that steep. It probably isn’t, but Trubisky was horrendous in that game on Thursday. Let’s blame the scheme,” Spielberger said of Trubisky’s struggles Thursday night against the Patriots. “…We’ve seen 15 backup quarterbacks or something play this year, and you can tell what teams are coaching guys up and putting guys in position to succeed, making things easy, which are kind of getting thrown into the fire and having to navigate difficult conditions.”
Granted, Thursday’s matchup against the Patriots came on a short week, so there wasn’t much time to prepare, but it’s not as if this was Trubisky’s first action of the season. He came into the loss against the Arizona Cardinals following Pickett’s ankle injury and played the entire second half, too.
He’s come on in relief multiple times for Pickett this season, too. Plus, he has plenty of starting experience with the Steelers in their offensive scheme, even if offensive coordinator Matt Canada was fired earlier in the season. There really were no excuses for Trubisky and his performance in Week 14 against the Patriots.
What’s even more concerning, at least based on Spielberger’s comments, is that Trubisky is the same quarterback he was when he came into the league in 2017.
“Well, that’s the funny thing, is that what he was on Thursday was what he looked like in his first NFL start. And obviously the results vary. The results vary. But we’ve talked about him before in the show and I probably talk about him too much like a scorned ex, but he just has zero awareness and just kind of is out there playing backyard football,” Spielberger said of Trubisky, according to audio via 93.7 The Fan. “Like, sometimes it’s great. He had six touchdown passes against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in the day and sometimes he is throwing prayers against Bill Belichick and just getting picked off.
“…He is literally the same guy. He is the exact same quarterback he was the day he stepped on[to] the NFL field back in 2017, which is not necessarily a good thing when you’re 29, 30 years old now.”
Spielberger isn’t wrong when it comes to Trubisky. He has no real awareness at the quarterback position. He throws off of his back foot quite a bit, drifts away from pressure and just makes some awful decisions, much like he did in the loss to the Patriots.
He is a great athlete at the position and certainly brings something to the table from a mobility aspect, but it’s too far and few between. And when he’s unable to use his legs and has to win with his arm, he’s far too inconsistent. Thursday night didn’t look like his first NFL start, like Spielberger said, but he certainly didn’t look like a quarterback with 56 starts in the NFL.
Trubisky is largely the same quarterback he was when he came out of North Carolina as the No. 2 overall pick. He was raw then and really didn’t know how to play the position consistently. That’s the case now, too.
