The Pittsburgh Steelers are off to a 3-0 start to the 2024 season. And it’s been QB Justin Fields under center in all three games. It wasn’t what anyone pictured when head coach Mike Tomlin named Russell Wilson as the starter. But Wilson’s calf injury changed all that.
Now, the Steelers’ defense is the best in the league right now. They’re only allowing 8.7 points per game, the best in the league. The Steelers are scoring 17 points per game, which is 24th in the league. The defense is doing most of the heavy lifting while Fields and the offense are doing enough to put up the points necessary to win.
But the big question is whether Fields is doing enough to remain the starter. Is Fields showing growth and progressing as a quarterback?
“That’s what we got to look at, right?” former NFL QB and Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner said in his Game Tape Breakdown of Fields’ Week 3 performance against the Los Angeles Chargers. “We can’t just look at stats…We got to look at the process, look at the entire process. And I believe there’s a lot of things that Justin Fields is doing right with the process in Pittsburgh.”
It’s extremely easy to look at the Steelers’ offense through three weeks and think it’s not enough. So far, it has been. But when it comes time to play teams like the Kansas City Chiefs later in the season, the Steelers will need to score more points. It’s hard to believe that the Steelers will keep up an average of points allowed below 10 all season. If they do, that’s incredible.
But what can’t be missed is the progress Justin Fields has shown since the start of training camp and the start of the season. There is a legitimate reason why people aren’t clamoring for Wilson’s return to full strength.
Fields has a completion percentage above 70 in two of his three games this season. In three years with the Chicago Bears, Fields’ completion percentage was 61.3. Obviously, it’s a small sample size of three games in Pittsburgh.
But Fields’ 78.1 completion percentage against the Chargers is his third-highest completion percentage in a game where he attempted at least 10 passes. He completed 80 percent of his passes twice with the Bears. However, both of those efforts actually came in losses. The Bears lost 28-19 in a game in which Fields completed 20-of-25 attempts in 2022. In 2023, Fields completed 25-of 28 attempts (and threw for four touchdowns) in a 31-28 loss to the Denver Broncos.
But even in the game in which Fields did not complete at least 70 percent of his passes so far this year, he was still above his career average in Chicago. He completed 65 percent of his passes against the Broncos (revenge game, anyone?) in the 13-6 win.
Warner made the point that the Steelers aren’t asking Fields to make big plays all over the field. Under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, the Steelers are giving Fields plenty of easy options. But Fields making the right decisions and minimizing mistakes are what is so encouraging.
And against the Chargers, the Steelers were the most aggressive they’ve been on offense since the running game wasn’t working early. That’s why Fields attempted the most passes (32) yet in his time in Pittsburgh. And he responded by completing passes at the highest rate yet this season. This lends belief that the Steelers are giving Fields the freedom to play even if there are mistakes.
The Steelers are relying on the process with Justin Fields, and the results are encouraging. If he can continue to limit the mistakes while making more and more plays, he just might be the long-term starter the Steelers have been looking for since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
