Preseason is over for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and yet, Mike Tomlin has yet to name a starting quarterback.
The longtime Steelers head coach is heading a high-profile quarterback competition between offseason signee Russell Wilson and trade acquisition Justin Fields, both on the higher end of polarizing names at the position, and neither has been named the starter as of this writing.
The Steelers went 0-3 in the preseason, dropping their preseason finale to the Detroit Lions on Saturday.
“We’ll make a decision at the end of our work week,” Tomlin said, per ESPN. “This upcoming week we have three days of Steelers vs. Steelers work and why not do it then?
“It minimizes the Steelers versus Steelers work when we started making decisions prior to the completion of that. We’ve got ample time to prepare for Atlanta and make whatever decisions or announcements regarding divisional labor or pecking orders and so forth and so we’ll do it at the end of the work week.”
In the game, Wilson led a touchdown drive, and was immediately pulled for Fields.
“We didn’t get the job done, but we did get a lot of things accomplished that we wanted to get accomplished,” Tomlin said after the loss. “We wanted to get our starters in state and rhythm that was kind of reflective of some of the things that we’ve seen in practice. And so we were able to do that. And soon as we got comfortable with some of those things, we moved on to provide ample opportunity for those and trying to find one of the final seats on the bus. But obviously, we didn’t make enough plays to secure victory.”
Wilson finished the preseason with 73 passing yards and completed 10 of his 12 attempts.
The younger Fields had more reps in relief, completing 19 of 27 passes for 199 yards, and he also rushed for 48 yards on 13 carries.
“They both moved the ball,” Tomlin said. “They won possession downs, and we put them all in the end zone, things that we hadn’t done to this point sufficiently enough in the preseason.”
Wilson signed to Pittsburgh on a one-year deal this past March after being cut by the Denver Broncos, with whom he spent his last two seasons after being traded by the Seattle Seahawks.
The Broncos are still paying Wilson, who will count as $53 million in dead cap money for the 2024 season.
Less than a full week after adding Wilson, the Steelers added Justin Fields for a conditional sixth-round draft pick from the Chicago Bears.
The Steelers begin their 2024 regular season on Sept. 8 against the Falcons in Atlanta.
