Justin Fields is supremely talented and supremely frustrating as a quarterback. He split opinions in Chicago for good reason. When he's good, he's good. He makes you believe. When he's bad, he's bad. He makes you pull your hair out.
The Pittsburgh Steelers got their first taste of the full Justin Fields Experience on Friday in their preseason opener against the Houston Texans.
On the one hand, Fields was 5-of-6 for 67 yards.
On the other hand, he fumbled twice and took two sacks.
NFL and Steelers Twitter had opinions to spare.
Best memes and tweets from Justin Fields' preseason debut
The last series from Justin Fields/Steelers
— Connor Allen (@ConnorAllenNFL) August 9, 2024
1st down: Fumbled snap
2nd down: 4 yard Fields scramble
3rd down: Sack
All too familiar
Ironic how quickly Justin Fields managed to get back to getting sacked by Danielle Hunter https://t.co/w0JT78uAip
— Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) August 9, 2024
We are getting the full Justin Fields experience.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) August 9, 2024
not to do a serious preseason tweet but these first three drives is the perfect microcosm of justin fields.
— 💆🏽♂️ (@godspeedbrother) August 9, 2024
arm talent clear as day while still being a crazy slow processor who can’t stop taking negative plays
Justin Fields Steelers Pre-Season Debut:
— Sadeek 🪐 (@SadeekNextWave) August 9, 2024
5/6 for 67 Yards (should have been 6/6)
113.2 Rating
2 sacks
O Line got blown up but he looked good when he got his passes off pic.twitter.com/1rFzm8YiFo
Justin Fields is better than Kenny Pickett. Get that out of the way. #Steelers
— David Todd (@DavidMTodd) August 9, 2024
Justin Fields has looked better than y’all are saying 😭 I missed the whole thing with Danielle Hunter but ever since I’ve tuned in, he’s looked alright!
— Michael Allen 🧀 (@MichaelAllenNFL) August 9, 2024
This was preseason and a small sample size at that. Fields led three drives before he exited. The offensive line in front of him wasn't exactly rolling. Center-QB snap exchange problems happen and can get smoothed out during the preseason. That's what it's there for.
It's far too early to draw conclusions about whether Fields can be a successful quarterback in Pittsburgh.
Having said all that, this wasn't exactly the preseason debut Steelers fans dreamed. Hope grew when rumors started to trickle in that Fields had a real chance to win the starting job. That kind of talk would have taken off if the performance on Friday had been flawless. Instead, we can all temper expectations.
Fields is the ultimate glass half-full, half-empty player. Your interpretation of his performance may just come down to whether you're an optimist or pessimist. Sure, he's a quarterback who can improvise, scramble and hit impressive passes. He's also a quarterback who takes too many sacks and risks too many turnovers.
There's still a lot of time for Fields to truly challenge Russell Wilson. We didn't even get to see the presumptive starter in action as he ramps back up from injury. The competition hasn't even really begun.