Next man up, the standard is the standard, blah blah blah.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are facing the prospect of riding out the remainder of the season with Mitch Trubisky at quarterback after Kenny Pickett suffered an ankle injury that reportedly will require surgery. He is expected to miss at least two to four weeks, but with just five games left to play, if it’s any more than that, and the Steelers don’t make the playoffs, he is done for the year.
It’s a good thing that the team has confidence in Trubisky, then. “My faith is up here”, WR Diontae Johnson told Chris Adamski after the game, gesturing above his head, saying that he throws with him during practice. “I treat him as though he’s the starter as well”.
Johnson scored his second touchdown of the season yesterday, celebrating after doing so despite the fact that the Steelers were trailing by 14 points at the time with under five minutes to play. That pass came off the arm of Trubisky, who has 25 percent of the team’s touchdown passes in 2023 on 13 percent of the pass attempts.
A former first-round draft pick, Trubisky was signed last offseason as a potential bridge starter following Ben Roethlisberger’s retirement. He admitted earlier this year that he had some regrets about not taking more time to consider his options in free agency, signing right away only to watch the team draft Pickett in the first round.
Yet he didn’t hesitate to sign a new contract extension this offseason, reportedly totaling $19.4 million over three years, including what he was already owed for 2023, and worth potentially up to $33 million with incentives. He may have the opportunity to collect on some of those incentives now.
“We have all the faith in the world with Mitch”, said C Mason Cole, who was signed in the free agency class as Trubisky a year ago and who started the 2022 season opener with him. “He’s won games here and across the league. Nothing changed (Sunday) when Mitch got in. Game plan was the same, communication was the same”.
Trubisky went 11-for-17 for 117 yards and a touchdown pass after coming into yesterday’s game for Pickett. At the time it was a 3-3 game, and it ended up being 24-10, so that doesn’t exactly look great for him in a vacuum.
But he came in on 4th and goal from the 1 and was asked to hand off. The defense stuffed it and then the Cardinals scored a touchdown on 99-yard drive. Early in the second half, Cole’s botched snap spilled between Trubisky’s legs for a turnover, Arizona turning that into another seven points. The game quickly got out of hand without him having too much to even do with it.
After starting the first four games of the 2022 season and then being pulled in favor of Pickett, Trubisky had since made one start in relief. He led the team to a 24-16 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 14 last year, going 17-for-22 for 179 yards without a passing touchdown or an interception, but he did score on a run.
Up next are the 2-10 New England Patriots, who figure to start Bailey Zappe at quarterback, followed by a still-alive Indianapolis Colts team led by Gardner Minshew. After that it’s the Cincinnati Bengals with Jake Browning under center before wrapping it up at Seattle and at Baltimore. How many of these games will Trubisky start? How many will he win?
