The Steelers lost their second straight game Thursday, and their offense has been held under 20 points in each of their three contests. Mike Tomlin remains committed to Mitch Trubisky as his starter, however.
Tomlin said postgame he is “definitively” not planning to make a quarterback change. The 16th-year Steelers HC went further before his team’s Week 3 game. Tomlin’s plan is to stick with Trubisky throughout the season and give Kenny Pickett a true redshirt year, according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer (h/t Awful Announcing), who adds Tomlin told him, “This is Trubisky’s team.”
This endorsement says a lot about the Steelers’ Pickett timeline, and while it would still be stunning if the team sat its first-round quarterback throughout the season, Tomlin’s pregame and postgame stances makes it look like a long NFL onramp is indeed being built for this year’s No. 20 overall pick. This plan would qualify as a zag compared to how most teams have handled first-round quarterbacks over the past decade.
Although Jordan Love and Patrick Mahomes (save for a Week 17 cameo five years ago) were able to go through full-on redshirt years, their respective teams had solid-to-excellent (in Aaron Rodgers‘ case) starters. Trubisky checks in well below the Rodgers or Chiefs-years Alex Smith level. The Steelers, however, not entertaining a Pickett promotion during their upcoming mini-bye effectively affirms their view of the local rookie’s progress.
Pickett played well during the preseason, but Trubisky was viewed as the first-stringer throughout the offseason. The Pitt product also was a four-year starter at the ACC school that shares a home stadium with the Steelers, giving Tomlin and Co. a fairly good indication of his readiness. Pickett sitting throughout would still surprise, given that this is his age-24 season and his upside outpaces Trubisky’s at this point in the latter’s career.
Trubisky only spent one season as a full-time college starter — at North Carolina in 2016 — but was among the bevy of first-round picks to take their NFL team’s reins early in his first season. The Bears gave him the call in Week 5 of the 2017 campaign. Excluding the Mahomes-Love-Trey Lance genre of rookie QB and the two first-rounders who did not hold down the job after seeing first-string action as rookies (Johnny Manziel, Paxton Lynch), every first-round QB since 2012 has been given a genuine first-season run as a starter.
Should the Steelers insist on Pickett sitting in 2022, they do have third-stringer Mason Rudolph in place. The team passed on trade interest in its fifth-year reserve arm. With Pickett having leapfrogged Rudolph on the depth chart, it would surprise if the longtime Ben Roethlisberger backup usurped Trubisky anytime soon.
Pickett questions will likely continue for the Steelers, whose offense appears to have a low ceiling as presently constructed. Then again, the franchise prioritizing Pickett’s growth over 2022 success would make sense as a long-term plan. This latest report certainly makes Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger succession plan more interesting.
It’s a new era in Pittsburgh. Tough to replace a hall of fame qb. That is why I never understood why people were wanting Ben gone for years. Hall of fame qbs don’t grow on trees, especially ones that are as clutch and tough as Ben. Canada is not the answer nor is Mitch. Don’t know why you would even waste time with either of them. They are just part of the issues. I don’t think it’s as bad as it seems at the moment since there is a lot of young talent on this team (and we’re headed for a top 10 pick potentially), but when your qb and oc are in question it’s difficult to find success. I love coach Tomlin. It would be a mistake to get rid of him. I can’t stand when people don’t realize how good he is. But he needs to get his head out of his hoop here and make some changes.
If Pickett needs time, doing what’s best for their QB of the future is good enough reason to play Trubisky. But Canada has been a disaster.
How has he been a disaster? A lot of the play calling was good throughout the game but the execution was what was lacking. Which makes sense when you have a game manager behind a poor OL.
So the execution and result in every area of offense is bad, even with a strong set of weapons, but the play-calling is good. You believe that? This offense has not looked like it has a plan or an ability to execute anything. That’s all on the offensive line? Didn’t they bring in Trubisky specifically for Canada and his mobility? And on what planet is Trubisky a game manager? He has the ninth highest interception percentage since 2018, and of the guys with higher ones, three are out of football, two are backups now, and another was supposed to be a backup (Jimmy G).
I’m with Ooooof, this one lands on the coordinator. Did you notice how Matt Patricia was able to scheme their receivers to be open in the middle of the field time and time again? Did you notice how Stefanski schemed players in to 1:1 matchups with Edmunds knowing they could exploit it? I’ve yet to see a single scheme with intention from Canada (or Fichtner for that matter). The insane commitment to just running the same plays over and over and expecting different results is maddening… high school offense
Fichtner was fired at the end of last season, so I don’t blame him for any matchup issues right now.
Canada is a NCAA schemer trying to pull this stuff in the pros.
absolutely no reason not to throw down field with this cast of receivers.
o-line can’t run block whatsoever is by far the teams biggest issues
mitch is OK game manager, just need to be able to run the ball for mediocre QBs like him to be effective (see Brissit last night, and Mayfield the past few years)
And that closes the case on why Tomlin is a bad coach. A bad game plan is gotta win sometime, right? But hey, if he wants to dispel his own illusion of always having a winning season, keep going the exact same way every week as he is now and we’ll also have a top draft pick and hopefully a new head coach for next season!
He’s horrible. Only 1-1 in Super Bowl appearances.
Give it a break. He’s a pretty damn good coach and they’ve been competitive every single year.
Tomlin is most well known for blowing games against bad competition.
Tomlins clock management at the end of games is easily the worst in the history of the NFL.
any white coach who tried to trip an opposing team’s kick returner , would’ve been fired long ago and laughed at forever about.
Tomlin is the most overrated HC of all time and yet people freely talk of Gruden reaping rewards of Dungys Bucs, but is taboo to speak of Tomlin only winning SB because of Cowhers culture.
Tomlin is a defensive backs specialist, yet has never had a good secondary and had to desperately trade for Minkah to solve his problems.
if you like underachieving, and really dumb answers at press conference, then Tomlin is really good HC
Well you do seem to be an expert on “dumb”
Calling Tomlin a bad coach is just ridiculous.
Well, he does go by madman. If I were a Steelers fan, I’d be pretty mad too
Andy Reid isn’t a bad coach but his message got old in Philly after all those years. Tomlin insulates himself with in-hires, hence how they ended up with Canada as OC. His track record will keep him with the team even if he has a down year or two, but he has to show he’s not afraid to shake up the coaching staff. For someone who’s never had a losing record, you’d think he’d have his coordinators being sought after year after year, but his coaching tree is nonexistent instead.
Trubisky was fine yesterday. Big Ben was worse last year than that. The key for Pickett is his long term development. What he did in preseason means nothing. Teams keep throwing qbs into the fire before they are ready and most of them.flame out. Let Pickett go on his own timeline and if he is good enough and the Steelers are 2-6, I am sure he will play plenty.
Exactly. Tomlin is considered a very good, if not great coach and I’d take his word that Pickett isn’t ready. Pittsburgh has a lot of issues on the offensive line that needs to be addressed, plus they still can’t stop the run
Ehhh I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that Roethlisberger was worse than Trubisky. The Steelers’ line is playing better this season, even though they are still needing improvement. Trubisky missed on a lot of throws downfield, and Pickens made a few plays that would not have been available last season that benefitted Trubisky.
I don’t think that Trubisky was a disaster, but he wasn’t great. He missed on too many throws in the mid to deep portion of the field. Even though Roethlisberger had difficulty with those throws in the last two years of his career, we still saw him hit them in crucial moments in several games (notably in several comeback victories). Most importantly, Roethlisberger coordinated his offensive line on nearly every play and called a lot of adjustments at the LoS. The offense didn’t just look the way that it did because of Roethlisberger. The bad line was the primary reason, and the receivers not getting separation reliably was another. Roethlisberger’s arm strength was behind those two reasons.
Trubisky lacks the on field awareness that Roethlisberger used to make himself valuable in his declining seasons, and so far has made mistakes in the downfield passing game that he was supposed to be able to offer an improvement in. He’s not worthless as a starter right now, but last night was not exactly an above average showing on his part. I agree that Pickett doesn’t need to be rushed in now for what will be an at best average season, but Trubisky could be much better, and certainly was not an even replacement for Roethlisberger last night.
Very long post
Yeah, I do that. Sorry.
In spite of that, Ak185 would get my vote as the sites MVC (Most Valuable Commenter). He has an excellent understanding of the game, provides thoughtful opinions and is always respectful of those who have a different perspective. He’s not a Bears fan…but we can hardly expect him to be perfect.
Thank you so much, lemon. That truly means a lot coming from the actual MVC.
In my case MVC stands for Most Visible Calamity.
Tomlin is a winner. He’s going to go with whoever gives him the best chance at winning. Pickett probably isn’t ready yet and Tomlin knows it won’t do Mitch any good to be wishy washy with his comments.
Hack journalism, trying to be like TMZ. It doesn’t sell, all it does is diminish your journalistic credibility with your target audience.
I like Pickett and although I am not a Pitt fan, followed his trajectory here. I have no doubt he’s the real deal. But honestly, I don’t know how he, Mitch or anyone else can play under such an overmatched OC. The change needs to be getting rid of him because honestly, we have no idea what Trubisky can do in a real system
Someone mentioned the O-line above. It is better and couldn’t get worse, but to me at least, Najee isn’t the back I thought he was and I wonder if it’s because of last year, when he, the ball and the opponent’s D-line often met at the same time. His first idea seems to be to dance and juke rather than hit the hole hard. In fact, he’s often passing up holes. Loved him at Alabama. Loved the selection. But something is off
And let’s face it, this team is going nowhere. Never was with a D-line they never addressed. I’ve been a fan since ‘72 and have never seen guys blow through the line like this
The team is a trainwreck, from the OC to personnel. I don’t see how Pickett changes all that, as much as I like him
“ The Steelers, however, not entertaining a Pickett promotion during their upcoming mini-bye effectively affirms their view of the local rookie’s progress.”
False. It affirms they are stubbornly sticking to “The Plan” Tomlin referenced throughout the offseason that they had/have for Pickett’s development.
If Tomlin wanted to make a change but didn’t feel Pickett was ready he’d just start Rudolph. They signed Trubisky specifically to run Canada’s offense and I think this Franchise truly believe in Red Shirting rookie QBs. Ben was THIRD on the depth chart going into his rookie season! He only started due to injuries to BOTH Batch & Maddox.
Tomlin a great coach has an 8-9 post season record. Not won a playoff game since 2017. Pretty much ran 2 coordinators out of town Arians with story of retiring then ran LeBeau out. Can’t mange the clock or win a challenge. He built this team and coaching staff but nothing is ever his fault always everyone else’s time to start putting some of the blame we’re it belongs and stop passing the buck
Pickett would be worse. He wasn’t worth a 1st round pick, hence why the other 5 QB needy teams passed him up. They only picked him because of his ties to Pitt, and that was foolish. Had he went to say, Boston College, Pittsburgh wouldn’t of even sniffed his way and that’s a FACT.
Might want to google the definition of “fact” my guy
Fact = Dumb **** a Moron Pulled Out of His ***.
Lol, how dare someone be critical of your precious Steelers and the savior himself Kenny Pickett.
Only my Penguins are precious.
“They only picked him because of his ties to Pitt, and that was foolish.”
This is the kind of thing dumb people who can only process a few variables at a time and have no real clue how anything actually works say.
Fact.
There was 4 QB needy teams who passed him. Explain that if he was so good?
“There was 4 QB needy teams who passed him.”
There were 4 QB needy teams who passed on him, you mean?
Lol. Still no explanation. Nothing worse than homer Steeler fans.
You evidently don’t understand 4th grade grammar, I’m going to explain NFL scouting to you…?
I’d point out that the onus is on you to explain your original “tHeY OnLy tOoK hIm CuZ pItT!!!” take, but no one cares to hear it, so…
Yeah.
Nice weather today, huh?
You’re nothing but a homer ‘my guy’
I consider myself more of a realist, actually.
This offense is terrible, our OC is potentially the most under-qualified in the league, the left side of the OL stinks, and none of the 3 QBs are likely good enough to make a big enough difference.
But at this point we’ve seen what the two vets can do. Pickett at least has unchecked upside. Throw him out there at this point.
You declaring him a bust before he takes a regular season snap makes you a textbook hater, not me a homer. Nice try though.
Your comment shows you’re not a realist. A realist would understand we have the toughest stretch of the schedule coming up here. Pickett obviously isn’t ready, or he’d be playing. So yes throw him out to the wolves so the Bills, Eagles, Bucs, and Dolphins defenses can chew him up and spit him out like your wife’s cooking. You just explained how awful the OL is yet you want to throw a rookie out there and play against 4 of the toughest opponents we will have. An actual realist would understand the only time, IF he even plays this year, that is right for Pickett is after the bye week vs the Saints. Extra prep is necessary for a kid who probably can’t even read the playbook yet.
Yeah, see I’m also perfectly fine with him sitting if they are ready to admit they aren’t competing this year. As I said, I don’t believe any of the 3 can make up for the offensive shortcoming’s we’re seeing.
But if the plan is to give him the keys next year, I DO think they need to get him in 4-6 games to close the year as a test drive. Going into 2023 not knowing what you have in him is dumb.
Watt getting hurt changed this season. There is a realistic chance they’d be 3-0 right now if he plays against NE and CLE.
They needed to win both of those games if they were going to have a chance to have a good year.
But, that’s even more reason not to rush Pickett.
Without a playoff berth on the line, Mitch’s play (good OR bad) should not decide the timeline.
NFL history is littered with rookie QB’s being thrown to the wolves on mediocre/bad teams and developing bad habits, losing confidence or getting hurt.
If at some point he both shows himself ready AND the line is good enough to keep him in one piece, then his development should be the priority and he should start.
Not before.
I was so desperate in fantasy for an rb I grabbed Najee as my rb1. Its going to be a longggg season unless Eli Mitchell can come back soon
You don’t put a rookie QB behind that terrible o-line, as it risks injury and doesn’t help him with slowing the game down.
What is the “Mahomes-Love-Trey Lance genre of rookie QB” exactly?
The kind that don’t play first year…
Steeler fans have to realize that they’re just not that talented right now. It happens. They’ve had a great run. They need to add a couple of good offensive lineman and a couple of linebackers that can stop the run. Pickett may be a good quarterback. I don’t see how people can call him a bust or even a reach. Let him play the last 6 games of the season and turn it over to him next year
Mike Tomlin goes 9-8 this year he should hands down win coach of the year.