As veteran quarterback Russell Wilson continues to recover from a calf injury that popped up late last week ahead of the Week 1 season opener against the Atlanta Falcons, the Pittsburgh Steelers are turning to Justin Fields under center, not just in Week 2 but for at least Week 3, too.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac, that’s the outlook as the Steelers are planning to start Fields against the Broncos and then in the home opener against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3.
“According to sources, the Steelers plan to have Justin Fields start the next two games — Sunday in Denver against the Broncos and the home opener Sept. 22 against the Los Angeles Chargers — while Russell Wilson continues to rest his injured calf so it doesn’t morph into something worse,” Dulac writes of the Steelers’ QB situation in an article for the Post-Gazette Friday morning.
Coming off an 18-10 Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons in which he played relatively well, Fields is getting another shot in Week 2 on the road against the Denver Broncos. It was supposed to be a revenge game for Wilson, who played in Denver in 2022 and 2023 before being released this offseason and the Broncos taking on an $85+ million dead cap hit to move on from him.
Now, based on Dulac’s reporting, Fields’ opportunity will extend into Week 3, too, when the Steelers play their first game of the season inside Acrisure Stadium against the new-look Chargers under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Earlier in the week while meeting with the media, Tomlin stated that the Steelers were preparing as if Fields would be the starting QB in Week 2 against the Broncos and that the Steelers would leave the light on for Wilson to see what he could do in practice this week. Wilson was limited on Wednesday and Thursday.
Tomlin wouldn’t go into a discussion regarding who the starting QB will be once Wilson gets healthy, but based on Dulac’s reporting the Steelers will continue to call on Fields through Week 3, at least, giving Wilson ample time to recover.
The question becomes what happens after Week 3 should the Steelers potentially get to 3-0 with Fields and Wilson is healthy enough to play. Would Tomlin turn back to Wilson and pull the plug on Fields? Two former Steelers in Ryan Clark and Chris Hoke don’t believe that would be the case, and it’s hard to see Tomlin doing that after he kept rolling with Mason Rudolph last season over Kenny Pickett once the former first-round pick got healthy late in the season.
Tomlin never really engaged in the discussion regarding the starting quarterback situation during training camp after Wilson first suffered the calf injury, either, continuing to list Wilson as QB1 throughout the preseason, sticking with his comments that Wilson was in “pole position” entering the offseason due to his experience.
But now with the Steelers potentially winning games and Fields possibly playing well, avoiding the mistakes and functioning as asked within Arthur Smith’s scheme, Tomlin might have a big decision ahead if the Steelers get to 3-0 in the next two games and then Wilson gets healthy.
Seems easy on the surface, but the Steelers will want to get a look at Wilson at some point. That’s why Tomlin gets paid the big bucks. It’ll be fascinating to watch that play out, should that scenario come to fruition for the Black and Gold.
