Mike Tomlin didn’t deny a rumored Steelers locker room altercation

Recent reports suggest that Mitch Trubisky and Diontae Johnson had a big altercation at halftime of the Jets game. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t want to talk about it. 

You’ve probably heard the rumors by now. Early this week, a report circulated from Gerry Dulac of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who claimed that there was a big locker room altercation between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky and wide receiver Diontae Johnson that ultimately led to Trubisky being benched. Here’s what Dulac had to say:

"Trubisky was benched against the Jets following a locker room confrontation at halftime with receiver Diontae Johnson, multiple sources have told the Post-Gazette. According to sources, Johnson began yelling at Trubisky to throw him the ball more, even though Johnson had a pass skip off his hands that resulted in an interception and failed to get his feet inbounds on what would have been a 23-yard touchdown in the first half. Trubisky stood up to Johnson and a heated exchange occurred. That’s when Pickett was told he would start the second half."

We don’t know who Dulac’s sources were here, but since then, other members of Steelers media have spoken out about this topic. Ron Cook, also of the Post-Gazette, said during a radio show on 93.7 The Fan that “he’s hearing Trubisky lost his job vs Jets for “exhibiting behavior unbecoming of a captain.” This statement was reiterated by radio host, Andrew Fillipponi.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor asked Tomlin about the legitimacy of this halftime yelling match during the Week 4 matchup against the Jets. The Steelers head coach would neither confirm nor deny this, but his statement tells the whole story:

If this incident did not happen, I would venture a guess that Coach Tomlin would have shut this rumor down from the gate. However, the Steelers head coach did not deny that this altercation occurred. In fact, he stated that ‘the things that happen among competitors from time to time is normal business. It was also very clear from his tone that this isn’t something he was going to discuss with the media.

Why did Steelers make a QB switch vs Jets in Week 4

At this point, this is water under the bridge. These things happened weeks ago and we already know the end result. However, I’m sure many fans are curious as to why Mike Tomlin made the quarterback switch at halftime of the Jets game.

Regardless of the report from Ron Cook, I find it hard to believe Tomlin’s decision was based on the supposed altercation between Mitch Trubisky and Diontae Johnson at halftime. It would be a bizarre and brash decision to bench your starting quarterback simply because he got into an argument with his receiver.

Rather, it seems much more likely (and makes much more logical sense) that Trubisky was benched simply because of his performance wasn’t meeting Tomlin’s standard. In the first half against the Jets, Trubisky mustered up just 84 passing yards on 3.0 adjusted yards per attempt which led to just 6 points, via Pro Football Reference. This was after three straight lackluster performances to begin the season.

While it contradicts some of the reports and rumors we have seen from prominent Pittsburgh media members, it would make much more sense if Mitch was benched simply because he wasn’t meeting ‘the standard,’ and they wanted to get a spark with Kenny Pickett.

Either way, Mike Tomlin recently put this fraudulent QB controversy to bed — confirming that, when healthy, Pickett is the starter moving forward. However, it’s interesting to note that his reported locker room altercation just so happened to come when the Steelers decided to make a switch at quarterback. We may never have all the details of what actually went down at halftime against the Jets.