Will Mike Tomlin name Justin Fields or Russell Wilson the Steelers’ starter today?
It’s Tomlin Tuesday today, and you know what that means—evasive answers. For the first six weeks of the season, Mike Tomlin has successfully avoided committing to either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Technically, he did name Wilson the starter, but injury allowed him to hem and haw for a month and change.
Now we’re here, and we still don’t know who the Steelers’ starting quarterback is. At least, we have no idea beyond a week-by-week basis, which doesn’t aid in stability. Russell Wilson only returned to full practice last week, but Mike Tomlin had the excuse of not naming Justin Fields “the starter” because Wilson was only running with the second team.
But what happens this week? While the Steelers put up 30-plus points Sunday in Las Vegas, they had a lot of help, including several short fields. And Justin Fields still isn’t showing growth as a passer. He has five touchdown passes in six games, which is below average. While he throws less often than most starters, he ranks 24th in touchdown percentage. But he also ranks second in interception percentage. On the other hand, Russell Wilson can find the end zone while protecting the ball, as well.
How much is Mike Tomlin factoring the future into this current decision? Obviously, Russell Wilson probably isn’t going to be your starter for the next 10 years, but Justin Fields could be. But the Steelers think Super Bowl every season, and if they think Wilson can better help them win this year, they have to make the move at some point.
Fields has been fortunate often this year, benefitting from the other team not capitalizing on errant throws or even fumbles that they couldn’t recover. In the last game, he had an interception negated by a debatable roughing-the-passer penalty. But the Steelers are 4-2 with Russell Wilson sitting on the bench at the end of the day.
One thing that we have to consider as well is the strength of the back half of the schedule. The Steelers have not played a single team that they shouldn’t have beaten yet, the beneficiaries of some injury luck. One thing Fields has never shown is the capability of reliably winning a shootout. He has never won a game in which the opposing team scored 20-plus points.
Russell Wilson has literally dozens of such wins over the course of his admittedly much longer career. But it didn’t take him long to do it, including twice as a rookie. And that might be a good quality to have against the Kansas City Chiefs or the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers’ 2024 season is underway, following another disappointing year ending in a first-round playoff loss. They have had a long offseason since the Buffalo Bills stamped them out of their misery back in January. There are positive signs, but things could jump off the rails any moment.
The biggest question hanging over the team is the quarterback question. Will Russell Wilson regain his job when he is healthy, or is Justin Fields stealing it? How will the team continue to address the depth chart, which is surprisingly still in flux?
The regular season is here, following weeks of camp and preseason games. The Steelers made numerous moves through signings and trade—and release. More than usual, they seemed comfortable creating holes, confident they can fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not so much. Now that we have so many pieces of the puzzle, however, we merely have a new set of questions to ask.
