The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking to start 2-0 for the second straight season, as they’ll take on the Seattle Seahawks in the home opener on Sunday. However, they were very nearly 0-1 thanks to the quarterback who led them to a 3-0 start in 2024.
Justin Fields had a terrific outing against the Steelers, accounting for three total touchdowns and leading the Jets to nearly 400 yards of total offense. In light of this, Dianna Russini of The Athletic says that people in the organization saw this as
confirmation that they were right about Fields, and that Mike Tomlin made a massive mistake in benching him for Russell Wilson.
“Last year, when the Steelers had both Wilson and Justin Fields, coach Mike Tomlin made the switch from Fields to Wilson six games in, despite some internal pushback and with the Steelers 4-2,” Russini writes. “Fields had plenty of supporters in the locker room and even on the staff. The team rolled with Wilson, who gave them a spark early but ultimately flamed out. So when the Steelers lined up against the Jets last week and saw Fields on the other sideline – playing refreshed, decisive and free — let’s just say there were more than a few people saying ‘told ya so’ inside the organization.”
This sentiment was likely shared with many fans during the back-and-forth Week 1 contest with the Jets. With every good throw, big run, and long drive that Fields led, he made Tomlin look foolish for his choice to yank him midseason. Matters were made worse when Wilson and the New York Giants failed to score a touchdown while getting blown out by the Washington Commanders.
While Steelers fans can be very pleased with the performance of Aaron Rodgers, it’s still perfectly fine to look back and say that pulling Fields was a bad choice, and seemingly putting training wheels on him didn’t help matters either.
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