The Pittsburgh Steelers are reeling after the Kenny Pickett injury that will put the starting quarterback out several weeks recovering from ankle surgery. On Monday, head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that for the next few games, Mitchell Trubisky will be the man under center for the playoff-contending Steelers.

“Mike Tomlin said QB Mitch Trubisky will start vs. the Patriots, but he didn’t want to place a time estimate on how much time Kenny Pickett would miss beyond this week,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on Monday.

Trubisky came into the Steelers Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals down 10-3 and failed to engineer a comeback in the 24-10 loss. The backup QB was 11-of-17 for 117 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. That was just as good, if not better, than Pickett, who was 7-of-10 for 70 yards before he went out.

The Kenny Pickett injury and subsequent ankle surgery is a blow to the Steelers, but there may not be that much of a drop-off between the two signal-callers. Pickett has 2,070 passing yards this season with six touchdowns and four interceptions.

Mitchell Trubisky, on the other hand, hasn’t started since 2020 for the Chicago Bears, but the veteran quarterback does have a Pro Bowl appearance under his belt (2018) with his former team. That season, the 2017 No. 2 overall pick led the Bears to the playoffs with an 11-3 record while throwing for 3,223 yards with 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have to hope for this type of performance again, as the team is locked in a tough AFC playoff battle. With the loss to Arizona, Pittsburgh fell to 7-5, two games behind the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens. They still hold the No. 5 seed in the conference, though, currently holding the tie-breakers over the 7-5 Indianapolis Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Houston Texans.