At 3-0, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in a far better situation than most people believed they would be at the start of the season. It hasn't been pretty, but the Steelers seem to be playing complementary football behind their great defense and Justin Fields as their starting quarterback. But unfortunately for him, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin is not about to name him their permanent starter either.
All offseason long, the Steelers were adamant about Russell Wilson being their QB1. I did not buy into that for a second. While Fields is potentially an ascending player in year four out of Ohio State, Wilson appears to be a declining player in the twilight of his playing career. Wilson may be more trustworthy to run Arthur Smith's ground-centric attack, but Fields' ability to ad-lib is what I can get behind more.
In truth, I don't think Tomlin is gaslighting his quarterbacks or his team into an oblivion here. I believe he is trying to go about it week-by-week. The reason he has not named a starter yet is he wants to curry favor with the veterans to not disrupt the locker room chemistry in Pittsburgh, which can be at times a total powder keg. Plus, it's not like they have long-term attachments to Fields or Wilson either.
There will likely come a time where the Steelers are going to need Wilson to come through for them.
Mike Tomlin knows exactly what he is doing by not naming a starting QB
We know that Pittsburgh is going to win at least nine games this season. Through the first three, the Steelers are unblemished, but could there be more than six coming up on the horizon? With how challenging of a start it has been for their three division rivals, who have gone a combined 2-7 to start the season, the Steelers are truly playing with house money. Games must be won, but vibes are high.
To me, as long as key veterans like Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt are bought into the message Tomlin is sending out, then the Steelers can have as good of a season as they want. While I believe there is still a finite ceiling of what this team is capable of in a deep AFC, I am not ruling out 12 wins, a division title and multiple playoff games just yet. Of course, the Steelers need Fields to continue to play quite well.
Should he falter, then we might have to rip open the can of worms and start Wilson in his place. At that point, the Steelers will finally run into some real adversity, not some self-inflicted construct of their own creation. This team is built upon being able to handle adversity, but whether it has been real or fabricated has been an underlying issue as to why this franchise has underperformed for a decade.
In the meantime, kick back and enjoy all the good vibes that are emanating out of this AFC contender.