Due to the calf injury for veteran starting quarterback Russell Wilson popping up late in the week in preparation for the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons, backup quarterback Justin Fields got the start Sunday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium and helped pilot the Steelers to an 18-10 win.
Fields completed 17-of-23 passes for 150 yards and added 14 carries for 57 yards in the win, settling down after a rough first two drives that featured some bad throws and a fumbled snap on the Steelers’ first offensive play.
While Fields piloted the Steelers to a win as they sit 1-0 on the season, Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin was noncommittal on the QB1 discussion after the game in regards to what would happen moving forward when Wilson gets healthy, which could be as quickly as Week 2 in Denver.
“You can come ask me that question on Tuesday,” Tomlin said to reporters regarding the starting quarterback question, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page.
The Steelers named Wilson the starting quarterback on August 28, ending a month of speculation that ran through training camp, in which Wilson was dealing with a calf injury that limited him, opening the door some for Fields to get more snaps and attempt to compete.
But once Wilson was back from the injury and able to go full, he played in the last two preseason games and practiced in full before tweaking his calf on Thursday, landing on the injury report and ultimately keeping him out of the lineup.
Historically, Tomlin doesn’t like to have players lose their starting jobs due to injury. However, he set a precedent last season with Kenny Pickett, keeping him on the bench as the backup to Mason Rudolph late in the season, even when Pickett was healthy and had returned to practice following an ankle procedure that had knocked him out of the lineup for a few weeks.
That was a unique case though with Rudolph lighting it up and the Steelers in a playoff race. Fields didn’t exactly light it up Sunday, but he made enough plays to help the Steelers win. It seems unlikely that the Steelers would pull the ripcord on the Wilson experience before he even gets a shot just because they won a game with Fields, a game in which some play calling in big spots very clearly were made to protect Fields from making mistakes.
We’ll see what Tomlin has to say on Tuesday though, and where Wilson is in his recovery.
