At face value, the Pittsburgh Steelers benching Justin Fields for Russell Wilson doesn’t make much sense. While Fields hasn’t played at all All-Pro-caliber level as a quarterback, Pittsburgh is currently tied for first place in the AFC North and is a firm playoff contender.
Therein lies the crux of the issue.
Fields didn’t have to play like an All-Pro to justify keeping his job over, mind you, the guy who was supposed to start in the first place before a calf injury. No, no. Fields had to be above average to show that he was better as a difference-making quarterback. That’s all.
And he wasn’t. As Fields explained on Thursday morning, he knows that, too. Which is why he wasn’t surprised to get benched:
Justin Fields very candid today: “I don’t think I played good enough if I’m being real with you.
“If I’m being real with myself, if I did play well enough, I don’t think there would be any sort of (question) who should be playing who should not.” pic.twitter.com/8eW7hH75f6
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) October 17, 2024
Kudos to Fields for admitting the truth because the numbers don’t lie.
Through six starts, Fields was just 16th in the NFL in expected points added (EPA) and completion percentage over expected (CPOE), per RBDSM.com. After a strong first three games centered around his being an athletic game manager, the more Fields got aggressive, the more mistake-prone he was. He had an 8.6 percent sack rate (sacks are a quarterback stat!) and six turnover-worthy plays (!) as the Steelers asked him to dial it up a notch over his last three starts, which only hurt them.
And in the end, while Fields remains an incredibly electric runner, his passing leaves a lot to be desired. Over 200 net combined passing yards over his last two Steelers starts does not cut it in the NFL in 2024. That is not a sustainable offense for any purported contender. It’s just a fact.
Unless you want to attribute Pittsburgh’s four victories so far to #QBWinz, you’re picking cherries for Fields.
None of this is to say that Wilson will necessarily be meaningfully better than Wilson. We all saw what went wrong with the Denver Broncos. Wilson is a shell of what he once was — a nine-time Pro Bowler. Even still, all of Wilson’s passing production in 2023 was noticeably better than Fields and much more in line with what these Steelers need if they want to compete with the AFC’s heavyweights.
It is a dimension Fields simply cannot match, even on his best days.
So, does it suck for Fields that he got benched with the Steelers mostly humming along? Yes. You feel for him. But did he justify keeping his job for a pseudo-contender in a playoff push with his play?
No, and that’s why we’ll finally see Russell Wilson take real NFL snaps in a black and gold uniform.
