The Steelers have had an embarrassing mix-up at quarterback, and it helps us peek further into the issues this team is facing.
The Steelers can and should be celebrating a surprising win against Tampa Bay, but all is seemingly not well in Pittsburgh right now. The return of Mitch Trubisky has seemingly sparked some semblance of controversy amongst the team. After being benched at halftime against the Jets, he returned to the field to replace an injured Kenny Pickett against the Buccaneers.
On paper, this is a pretty standard and bland fair for an NFL team; a starter gets injured and thus is replaced by the backup. Such is not the case with the Steelers though, as a slew of reports have come out about the situation. Many think Trubisky will resume the role of quarterback. Others point to a potentially damaging story of what happened at halftime against the Jets.
Steelers may have had a fight on their hands
According to Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trubisky and receiver Diontae Johnson got into a verbal argument at halftime against the Jets. While specific details haven’t been given out, it seems like things did get out of hand, and Mike Tomlin opted to bench Trubisky because of it.
If this report is true, it is an absolute shame that the Steelers made the moves that they did. If the argument was just a verbal spat, benching Trubisky is the wrong choice. Bench him for his play by all means, but to side with a different player in a disagreement and sit the other is a foolish mistake.
On the flip side, if the argument was that bad on Trubisky’s end, then he shouldn’t be on the team right now. The Steelers have options at quarterback besides him, so keeping him around is illogical. To be fair, this story isn’t confirmed by any sources, but it is a damaging report, nonetheless.
Steelers are going to ruin Pickett at this rate
Furthering these issues is that Trubisky came into the Tampa Bay game and play well in relief of Pickett. That doesn’t mean he should be the starter going forward though. Besides the apparent argument, Trubisky wasn’t playing well, to begin with. While far from perfect, Pickett is the future of this franchise and needs to continue to start.
All of this back and forth will just tear down any confidence that Pickett has in himself. The team envisions starting him long-term (thus the reason he was taken in the first round). Now that he has taken starter snaps and has mostly held his own, he needs to be the quarterback moving forward.
Now, if Pickett is injured and can’t play against the Dolphins, starting Trubisky is fine. If, however, Trubisky is given the nod over a healthy Pickett, it will be yet another issue that this team will be struggling with this season.
This is another knock against Tomlin
While I have my list of issues with Tomlin as the coach of the Steelers, I haven’t found myself in the “fire him” camp just yet. This season has been a hard one to stomach though, as it is clear that this roster is relatively void of talent. Even the good players that they do have are underwhelming.
This quarterback situation will be an entirely different story though. Trubisky was never anything more than a transitional player. If that wasn’t clear by his contract, it was cemented with Pickett being taken in the first round of the draft.
If the reports of the fight are true, this is already a bad situation. Benching a player over a verbal disagreement is extremely unfair and a bad call by the head coach. If Trubisky’s argument warranted Trubisky being benched, then he should have been released the next week.
Now, the fact that he has looked ok when relieving an injured Pickett shouldn’t cause this team to backtrack. Doing so could cause long-term damage to Pickett’s career. That is something that the Steelers can’t afford right now. Tomlin needs to put his confidence behind Pickett and clear the air with the Trubisky arguments.
It has already been a tough year for the Steelers, and there are plenty of questions about Tomlin’s ability to lead this team. He needs to right the ship at the team’s most important position and soon. If not, it will be another inditement on a growing list against Tomlin.