Though reports are hinting Justin Fields will return as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 quarterback, Mike Tomlin’s actions – or his inactions – make it hard to believe the franchise suddenly found new faith in him. Laying out the case Monday morning, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg says he sees no signs of Tomlin having belief in Fields.
“Here’s what I observed last year,” Greenberg said Monday on Get Up. “Their offense cratered the last month of the season. They played as bad offense as any team in the NFL. They didn’t even compete in the Ravens’ game. And Mike Tomlin told us everything we need to know about what he thinks of Justin Fields. Because he never went back to that. He never gave him another chance.
“He was watching what they were doing offensively and decided [Russell Wilson] remains my best option. That tells me he doesn’t believe in Justin Fields.”
Greenberg’s comments have a measure of merit. Pittsburgh’s offense collapsed and went five-straight games scoring no more than 17 points, something the franchise hadn’t done since Chuck Noll’s first year in 1969. Slow starts continued to plague the team while Russell Wilson took more sacks and made worse decisions with the football. Even getting on the field as a change-up quarterback was difficult for Fields. In the Week 18 finale, he didn’t play a single snap and in the Wild Card loss, he saw just two snaps. Pittsburgh could’ve used an offensive spark in both.
Still, there’s context to address. Fields was hurt late in the season, injured on his lone carry against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15. With several short weeks that followed, it was hard to pivot to a quarterback change, especially for someone coming off injury. Pittsburgh signed and turned to Wilson partially for his experience and leaned on that down the stretch. While he didn’t play well, he was hardly the root cause of the team’s losing streak. Poor game-planning coupled with offensive and defensive lines that wilted were the main culprits that couldn’t be overcome.
Even if a mistake, not playing Fields doesn’t mean the team won’t pay and play him in 2025. Pittsburgh got trial runs of both players in 2024 to make an informed decision in 2025. The results point to Fields being more deserving of a second chance. We should know within in a week if it happens.
