After 18 years of Ben Roethlisberger under center, the Pittsburgh Steelers needed a new starting quarterback heading into the 2022 season. In March, the Steelers signed free-agent signal-caller Mitch Trubisky to a two-year, $14.2 million deal, presumably, to be the new Steelers quarterback. Then, in April, the franchise drafted Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett in the first round (No. 20 overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft. Trubisky won the starting job in camp, but now, after leading the Steelers to a decent — yet uninspiring — 1-1 record this year, fans are calling for Mike Tomlin to make the switch to the rookie QB. Here are three reasons Steelers fans' calls for Kenny Pickett to replace Mitch Trubisky are premature.

3. Mitch Trubisky has won a game this season

The first reason that it’s too early for Mike Tomlin to make a change at the Steelers quarterback position is that Mitch Trubisky has won a game this year. That means he’s won 100% more games with the Steelers than Kenny Pickett.

Sure, the Week 2 loss to the New England Patriots wasn’t great. And, yes, with a better QB the Steelers likely would have won the game. And, Trubisky’s stats weren’t great in the 17-14 Patriots loss (21-of-33, 168 yards, one TD, one INT) or the 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 (21-of-38, 194 yards, one TD, no INTs).

But there’s only one stat that truly matters, and that’s the W.

Not only does Trubisky have one more win as a Steelers quarterback than Pickett, but he also has 30 more wins as the rookie as an NFL player. That’s right. Believe it or not, the much-maligned Mitch Trubisky has a winning record (30-22) as a starter in the NFL.

He’s also made a Pro Bowl (2018) and the playoffs twice (2018, 2020). It’s true, Steelers fans. Look it up.

Pulling a QB — with a winning NFL record — after two weeks and a 1-1 record is short-sighted and reactionary. And, to get us to our next point here, it sends a terrible message to the team.

2. It sends a bad message to the Steelers locker room 

At 1-1, the Steelers are currently in a three-way tie for first place in the AFC North. They are also tied for the second AFC Wild Card spot.

Obviously, this was way too early to talk about playoff seeding, but the point is that a .500 record after two weeks — especially in a division with no undefeated teams — puts the Steelers basically exactly where they were three weeks ago before the season started.

After two games, the team has done what it needed to do and kept pace with the teams in their division. That’s more than you can say right now for the Joe Burrow-led, 0-2 Cincinnati Bengals.

Making a move to an untested rookie like Kenny Pickett right now would be Mike Tomlin telling his team he no longer believes in their chances this season.

Yes, it worked for the Steelers once before when Ben Roethlisberger set the rookie record with 13 wins in a season. But starting a rookie flops more times than it succeeds.

Last year’s rookie class was 19-40, even with Mac Jones’ 10 wins. The heralded Class of 2018 was 24-33. And even Super Bowl winners like Peyton Manning (3-13), Eli Manning (1-6), and Matthew Stafford (2-8) struggled in their first season when forced to start too early.

From a Steelers fan perspective, it is easy to see why they are anxious to start the future now and get Kenny Pickett out there. Maybe he’ll be the next Big Ben and, even if not, he’ll get valuable live reps that could pay off in the future.

That’s a hard sell for Mike Tomlin to 53 guys on non-guaranteed contracts, many of whom won’t be on the team next season. To keep his team and convince them they’re still in the race for this season, Mitch Trubisky has to be the Steelers quarterback.

1. Is Kenny Pickett good?

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The third and final reason that dovetails with Mike Tomlin keeping his team’s playoff hopes alive is that we have no idea if Kenny Pickett is a viable NFL QB yet. We have no idea if he’s better than Mitchell Trubisky.

The Steelers picking Pickett No. 20 overall made him the best (or at least the most highly-drafted) quarterback in a weak 2022 QB crop.

This draft position came on the strength of his senior season at Pitt, where he won 11 games, threw for 4,319 yards (at 67.2%), and had 42 TDs and just seven INTs. He also added 241 yards and five TDs on the ground.

Was that a great season? Yes. Was Pickett a 23-year-old man and fifth-year senior playing against 18- and 19-year-old kids at the time? Also, yes.

Pickett had a nice preseason, going 29-of-36 for 261 yards with three TDs and zero INTs. However, he’s never played a real NFL game. That means we have no idea if he’s actually an NFL QB.

This is why Steelers fans' calls for Kenny Pickett to replace Mitch Trubisky are premature.