Justin Fields could be headed to the bench for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but even if that happens this week, the Chicago Bears are in decent position to receive a fourth-round draft pick for their former quarterback.
Russell Wilson, now fully recovered from a calf injury that sidelined him before the season began, will get first-team reps in practice this week and could make his season debut Sunday night, when the Steelers (4-2) host the New York Jets (2-4) at Acrisure Stadium.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin named Wilson the starter before the season, but when the calf injury flared up, Fields took over. Tomlin, meeting with Pittsburgh media Tuesday, said Wilson is an option to start against the Jets, and that isn’t a can of worms a coach wants to open unless he’s almost certainly headed in that direction.
“(Wilson) is in consideration this week,” Tomlin said. “We’ll see where that leads us.”
The Steelers snapped a two-game losing streak Sunday when they crushed the Raiders 32-13 in Las Vegas. Fields completed 14 of 23 passes for 145 yards and ran 11 times for 59 yards and two touchdowns.
The Steelers had lost their previous two games to the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys after starting the season 3-0.
The Bears traded Fields, their first-round draft pick in 2021, on March 16 for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft. If Fields takes more than 50% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps this season, the Bears will get a fourth-rounder instead.
Fields, 25, has taken all but two of the Steelers’ 399 offensive snaps. Kyle Allen replaced him for two plays in the 20-17 loss to the Cowboys on Oct. 6 after a brutal hit by defensive end Tyrus Wheat on the first offensive play of the third quarter. Wheat was flagged for roughing the passer, and Fields quickly returned after a brief trip to the medical tent.
If it indeed becomes Wilson’s job, Fields would need to play about 11 more quarters (assuming play-count totals are roughly even) to finish the season with more than half of the offensive snaps.
Wilson, 35, was inactive for the first five games but was a full participant in practice last week and served as the No. 2 quarterback for the victory in Las Vegas. The nine-time Pro Bowl selection with the Seattle Seahawks was released by the Broncos in March after a two-year stay in Denver.
The Steelers are paying Wilson only $1.21 million as the Broncos owed Wilson the balance of the $39 million guaranteed in his contract.
Fields and Wilson were supposed to compete for the job in training camp under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, but the calf injury limited Wilson’s practice time and preseason action, so a full-blown battle never took place. The Steelers intended to start Wilson in the opener before he aggravated the injury Sept. 5.
The Steelers got off to a promising start with Fields, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 18-10, the Broncos 13-6 and the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10.
But they fell 27-24 to the Colts and then lost to the Cowboys despite being plus-three in takeaways and blocking a field goal. Fields completed 15 of 27 passes for 131 yards with one touchdown against a Cowboys defense that was missing key players, including edge rusher Micah Parsons.
The lopsided victory over the Raiders apparently didn’t help Fields secure the starting job, as Tomlin wouldn’t hint at the possibility of a switch if he wasn’t leaning heavily in that direction. He has been doing this way too long — 18 seasons as the Steelers coach — to make the mistake of creating an unnecessary media storm and uncertainty in the locker room.
Fields has completed 66.3% of his passes for 1,106 yards with five touchdowns and only one interception for a 93.9 passer rating. He also has run 55 times for 231 yards and five touchdowns.
But the Steelers are 26th in total offense (298.3 yards per game), 28th in passing (166.8 ypg) and 20th in scoring (20.7 points per game), and they’ve struggled to generate explosive plays. And now it appears Tomlin wants to see how things might be different with Wilson at the controls.
