The Pittsburgh Steelers traded a conditional draft pick to the Chicago Bears for quarterback Justin Fields shortly after signing Russell Wilson. They intended to hold a quarterback competition for their vacant job. However, a calf injury sidelined Wilson, paving the way for Fields to become the starter. Across six games, the Steelers went 4-2, with the young quarterback accounting for 10 total touchdowns and only one interception. However, head coach Mike Tomlin opted to replace him with Wilson in week seven and kept it that way the rest of the year.
After going 4-1 in his first five starts, the former Pro Bowler finished 2-5 down the stretch, capped by an ugly performance in the playoffs against Baltimore. Rumors persisted that many in the locker room weren’t happy that Fields was benched and wanted him re-inserted. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Pittsburgh intended to rectify this mistake by bringing Fields back. However, that decision came back to bite them in the end as the quarterback opted to take a deal with the New York Jets.
Justin Fields taught the Steelers an important lesson.
Don’t expect to toy with a player’s emotions and not face consequences. Justin Fields had every right to feel slighted after playing well through those first six games. Benching him was one thing, but keeping Wilson in after he started struggling in December was confirmation that Pittsburgh never really gave him a fair chance. Wilson had always been the guy they intended to start. Fields was merely insurance. Now the Steelers are left in the lurch. They have no clear starting quarterback, and their best hope is pursuing a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers, who, by all accounts, isn’t overly enthusiastic about playing for them. They’re in no position to draft anybody. For all the talk about the Steelers being a destination, it sure looks like they’ve lost some of their aura.
Steelers can get Jamies Winston 🙂
Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Kellen Mond, Davis Mills…
Some can still become quality starters but Trevor Lawrence is the only one that got starter money out of that QB draft class. Even he hasn’t killed it.
Good for Justin. Once it was clear that Wilson was washed then they should have provided that spark by putting Justin in. They were likely hell bent by not having to give Chicago that 4th rounder instead of the 6th rounder. Hope the difference between those 2 late round picks was worth it. Calling it right now. Pittsburgh is going to suck next year and the team will fire Tomlin to provide the team with new life. They need it. Tomlin will go on to coach either NYG or Cincinnati or Arizona or maybe even Miami.
The irony is that Justin’s people specifically requested that the Bears take the Pittsburgh deal, and then Pittsburgh doesn’t give him a fair shake. While the vibe around the NFL is that the Steelers are a well run franchise, the vibe around the Jets is that they are a train wreck. Hope it works out for Justin. @gusto – Well, after the choices they made, the Steelers are still looking for a QB, and their best bet is probably to take Jaxson Dart in the late first or late second if he’s still there. So they will probably be in… Read more »
F Pittsburg—they got Fields cheap and raped the Bears on the Chase Claypool deal. May the Pitsburg team rot in hell.