Mike Tomlin went rogue with major Steelers decision?
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin roams the sidelines during player introductions prior to the start of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA on October 29, 2023.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are making a quarterback change in Week 7 despite their strong start to the season, and apparently the decision is not one that was reached with consensus.
Russell Wilson is expected start for the Steelers over Justin Fields in Sunday night’s game against the New York Jets. During the NFL on FOX pregame show, Jay Glazer said he was told by Tomlin that the coach went “lone ranger” with the decision to bench Fields in favor of Wilson.
“I talked to Mike Tomlin about it last night, T.B., and he said, ‘Look, I went lone ranger on it.’ Because T.B., you’re not the only one who was against this,” Glazer said. “There’s a lot of people inside that organization who were as well. He said, ‘Look, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll take the heat. I’ll shoulder the blame, no problem.’
“He said, ‘The reason why I did this is I knew I had two quarterbacks going into camp that are very capable, but I wanted to see both of them before I made a long-term decision. Well, I haven’t seen the other one. I want to see at least what I have from him, exhaust all options, and then make a decision down the stretch.'”
"I went lone ranger" @JayGlazer spoke with Mike Tomlin last night regarding his decision to start Russell Wilson. pic.twitter.com/bbzzequcg1
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 20, 2024
It is possible that Tomlin feels some level of obligation toward Wilson. The Steelers assured Wilson all offseason that he would be the team’s starting quarterback. Wilson beat out Fields for the starting job before aggravating his calf injury. The 35-year-old also believed that he was signing with Pittsburgh to be the team’s starting quarterback.
Fields has completed 66.3% of his passes for 1,106 yards, 5 touchdowns and just 1 interception. He has 231 rushing yards and another 5 scores on the ground. He has avoided the types of mistakes that plagued his career with the Chicago Bears, which is a big reason why the Steelers have a winning record.
The big risk for Tomlin is disrupting the Steelers’ rhythm and upsetting the locker room, but he has been around long enough to handle that. Even Fields made an honest admission about losing his starting job, so perhaps the plan all along was for Wilson to get an opportunity regardless of what happened.
