Even when Justin Fields’ original plan doesn’t go as expected, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback finds a way to show he should stay ahead of Russell Wilson on the depth chart. He did it again during Sunday’s 27-24 loss at Indianapolis.
Despite being sacked four times, losing one fumble, and blaming himself for a bad snap in the last two minutes that led to a crucial turnover, Fields ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in the second half, bringing the team back from a 17-0 deficit to just three points with 3:40 remaining.
It wasn’t enough to overcome a slow start in Pittsburgh’s first loss of the season.
“It’s something we can control,” Fields said. “It’s coming out on game day and executing. Nothing more than that. It’s not complicated. At the end of the day, we feel like we beat ourselves. We knew we were shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Many people believe Fields has done enough to be named Pittsburgh’s starter over Wilson, who is recovering from a calf injury and was the emergency third quarterback on Sunday.
Fields has completed 70.6% of his passes for 830 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception, giving him a passer rating of 98.0.
Coach Mike Tomlin has been hesitant to make any announcements. Even this week, he said he would only decide when it was necessary, and for now, it isn’t.
Although Tomlin appreciated the resilience Fields showed on Sunday—completing 22 of 34 passes for 312 yards, including five for 20 yards or more, while leading the Steelers with 55 yards rushing on 10 carries—he didn’t want to reward Fields just for effort.
“I’m appreciative of his fight, but I’m not going to congratulate him for it. That’s the nature of the business that we’re in,” Tomlin said. “I appreciate his fight, but he, and I, were a little bit sloppy at times, too sloppy to be able to secure a victory.”
