Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields has led the team to a 4-2 record in place of Russell Wilson, who’s been recovering from a calf injury. Despite having the Steelers in a good spot, Fields doesn’t think he’s played well enough. With Wilson “in consideration” to start this week, Fields was asked by reporters if he would be frustrated if Wilson replaced him.
“I don’t think I’ve played good enough, if I’m being real with you,” Fields said via video posted by Chris Adamski of TribLive on X.
Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette added that Fields said he hasn’t been told who the starter is for Sunday’s matchup against the Jets.
Fields added that he believes he can grow from this situation.
“Any little setback, I just know it’s going to make me better,” Fields said via Mike DeFabo of The Athletic.
He also said if he believes if he had played well enough, there would be no question over who’s starting.
“If I’m being real with myself, I think if I did play well enough, I don’t think there would be any sort of [question] of who should be playing and who should not. At the end of the day, we got a few wins, of course, I’m glad about that, but there are areas that I can get better at, and I’m just going to continue to work on those and continue to get better,” Fields said via transcript provided by the team.
Justin Fields hasn’t had his best showing the last two weeks. His accuracy has been a little bit off and the offense hasn’t been able to sustain drives as well as it did earlier in the season. Pittsburgh’s offense has also started slow, with only three first-half points in both Weeks 4 and 5, although the Steelers did put up 12 first-half points in their 32-13 Week 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The original plan for the Steelers this season was to start Wilson, and with the 13th-year veteran now healthy, he’s getting a chance to show what he can do. He took first-team reps in practice yesterday, but with Fields not knowing who the starter is, it’s clear the decision isn’t 100% in Wilson’s favor yet, even if it does seem to be leaning the way.
Fields seems to be handling things well, as it’s not easy to get benched, especially with a winning record and generally having played well. Obviously, the circumstances here would be different than just Fields being benched for poor performance given Wilson is now healthy, but Fields hasn’t played poorly enough to make a decision obvious that he should lose the starting job.
Even if he doesn’t start, it doesn’t mean that Fields won’t play against the New York Jets, as Mike Tomlin left the door open for both quarterbacks to play Sunday night. Heading into the season, it was reported that the Steelers would have packages for Fields, and if Wilson starts, they may be able to deploy some of those to get Fields on the field and take advantage of his legs, which Tomlin called an “X factor.”
Wilson’s arm should represent an upgrade, and with Pittsburgh’s offense still clearly having room to grow, if he starts the hope is that his passing ability can jump-start the offense. However, the Steelers should be comfortable knowing that if Wilson doesn’t work out, they have someone who has proven he can win behind him in Fields.
