Russell Wilson looks an awful lot like Kenny Pickett in Steelers debut

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Kenny Pickett in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft hoping that he could be Ben Roethlisberger's heir apparent. As it turns out, Pickett was anything but an ideal Big Ben successor.

Pickett had as many touchdowns as interceptions in his two years as Pittsburgh's primary starter, and he led one of the most underwhelming and boring offenses in the NFL. Sure, Matt Canada didn't help, but Pickett never looked the part of an NFL starter.

With Pittsburgh's offense being as bad as it had been the last couple of years, the team chose to shake things up this offseason. Not only did they bring Arthur Smith in to be the team's new offensive coordinator, but their entire quarterback room was given a facelift with Russell Wilson being signed in free agency and the team trading for Justin Fields.

Neither of those two players was thought of as elite or close to it, but they had to be noticeably better than Pickett, right? Well, let's just say Wilson's Steelers debut didn't exactly go to plan.

Steelers fans can't escape Kenny Pickett nightmare after poor Russell Wilson debut

On the surface, Wilson wasn't horrible. He did complete eight of his ten passes. The only problem is, he threw for a total of 47 yards. He averaged 4.7 yards on average, which is pathetic. Wilson also appeared to hold onto the ball for far too long, taking three sacks in the process.

He led five drives. The Steelers failed to convert a first down in three of the five, and Wilson only threw for one of the two first downs that the team picked up. He didn't throw any interceptions, but their offense looked as lost as they did with Pickett under center, which is saying something.

To make matters worse for Wilson, Justin Fields came into the game and got the Steelers to field goal range in his second drive, leading to three Steelers points (they had none with Wilson).

Wilson did relatively nothing other than take sacks or complete checkdowns. Steelers fans saw why the Broncos were comfortable taking on a massive dead cap hit to have Wilson compete against them.

It's early, and the weather was less than pleasant, but Steelers fans can't be thrilled after what they just saw. Many want the younger and more explosive Fields to start already, and calls for Fields will only get louder if Wilson continues to struggle.