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The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves in a very unique position after a Week 6 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. On one hand, they have a starting quarterback, Justin Fields, who for the first time in his young career, has a winning record six weeks into the season. Sitting atop the AFC North at 4-2, conventional wisdom would suggest that Fields' hold on the Steelers starting QB job should be secure.
However, during Steelers practices this week, it's been 12-year veteran Russell Wilson who has been getting the reps with Pittsburgh's first-team offense, seemingly setting the stage for Fields to move to the Steelers bench, which is where many expected him to be heading into the season before Wilson began dealing with a calf injury during the preseason.
However, on Thursday morning, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith seemingly cast some doubt that a definitive decision had been made regarding who would be the starter on Sunday Night Football this weekend in a matchup against the new-look New York Jets.
Per Brian Batko of Post-Gazette Sports:
“Steelers OC Arthur Smith says Mike Tomlin has a decision to make by the end of the week on Russell Wilson-Justin Fields. Mentions that Russ has missed so much time so far. ‘I think Justin’s done a good job. By no means is anybody perfect around here but it’s about winning.'”
Winning is not something that Justin Fields has done much of in his four years in the NFL. Going into the 2024 season, Fields had accumulated a 10-28 record in three seasons with the Chicago Bears, which frankly had just as much to do with the state of the rest of the Bears roster as it did Fields' individual performance. Russell Wilson, on the other hand, does know a thing or two about winning.
In 12 NFL seasons, Russell Wilson has a 124-79-1 record in the regular season and postseason combined. Those 124 wins are 20th-most ever by an NFL quarterback, according to StatMuse. But there's no way around it… Russ can't cook like he used to, and it's possible that Justin Fields' best days are ahead of him.
Does Justin Fields or Russell Wilson give Steelers best chance to win?
This is the question that Mike Tomlin, Arthur Smith and the rest of the Steelers coaching staff needs to answer as they continue to work their way through the 2024 season. As mentioned above, Fields is 4-2, but his play over the last couple of weeks has been uneven enough to force the Steelers to strongly consider sending him to the bench. In each of the last two games, Fields' completion percentage and quarterback rating have plummeted.
It's possible that Pittsburgh's downfield passing game could greatly benefit from the introduction of Russell Wilson into the starting spot. Is that worth the trade off of losing Justin Fields' ability to scramble away from pressure and threaten defenses in designed quarterback runs? Wilson has wheels, but he's not capable of the home run rushes that Fields is.
Either way, no matter who it is that gets the start against the Jets and each week moving forward, the quarterback competition in Pittsburgh will continue to be a point of conversation.
