Quarterback is the most important position in football, and having a good signal caller can be enough to win games sometimes. On the flip side, having a bad quarterback can make winning seem impossible. Steelers fans have seen that firsthand for the past few seasons, with the quarterback room receiving a complete overhaul this year. Now, the team has Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, which sounds like the beginnings of a quarterback controversy, and those usually don’t end well. However, one former Chicago Bears player doesn’t believe that will be a problem for the Steelers.
Kyle Long played guard for the Bears from 2013 to 2019, making three Pro Bowls and being named second-team All-Pro once. Now, he spends time analyzing football alongside his brother Chris Long on their podcast Green Light. While talking about the Steelers on a recent episode, Long broke down why he believes Fields will be more comfortable in Pittsburgh.
“When he looks around in that huddle, when he’s given the keys at certain times this preseason, and during the season, he’ll be like, ‘There are guys like me, physically, in this huddle. We have an accumulation of dogs here,'” Kyle Long said. “And I know sometimes some of their dogs misbehave, but I think it gives a guy like Justin Fields some comfort and a sense of community there.”
Fields does have a unique level of athleticism that not many organizations can help foster and grow, but with the Steelers, he does have teammates that are on a similar level. George Pickens has shown time and again that he can make the unbelievable believable. Najee Harris was drafted in the first round for a reason. Jaylen Warren was an undrafted player who has carved out a role for himself with this team. All those players, and more, are just as hungry as Fields, both to win and to prove doubters wrong. Any “dogs misbehaving,” as Long puts it, is just players expressing their frustration at not being given more of a chance to help the team win.
That level of comfort is important for young quarterbacks, so it should help Fields develop into the player the Steelers envision. However, this doesn’t take away from Wilson, as Long goes on to explain that he’ll be more helpful for Fields’ development than anything, rather than creating a controversy between the two of them.
“In addition to that, you bring a quarterback like Justin Fields in, or any starting quarterback, and you throw them in with another starting quarterback, you think, ‘Well, I don’t know if the chemistry is gonna work out well.’ This is a guy Justin Fields was openly trying to emulate as a young quarterback,” Long said. “He was physically gifted outside of just being able to throw the football. I think Justin and Russ, and vice-versa for Russ, he gets to harbor this relationship with this young quarterback.”
Long is correct in pointing out the similarities in the Steelers’ two quarterbacks. Both were great athletes outside of football and have an ability to make plays out of the pocket that makes them special. If there is a perfect quarterback for Fields to learn from, it’s Wilson. The Steelers surely knew all of this and are probably hoping that Wilson can make them a better football team now, while Fields will make them a better team in the long run.
For the Steelers to get back to their winning ways, this will be the issue they need to spend the most time fixing. If it seems like Wilson and Fields aren’t co-existing, they’ll have to make a decision at the end of the season, as both players are not under contract beyond this year. If Wilson plays well this year, can he be trusted to continue that level of play as he ages? If Fields doesn’t show as much promise as the Steelers hope, will they look back to the draft next year for their franchise quarterback? These are questions that the front office probably mulls over every day, but maybe they’ll get lucky and the situation will go as smoothly as Long believes it will. That certainly would make life easier.
