In a perfect world, the Pittsburgh Steelers would have put Kenny Pickett in a more advantageous position than he found himself on Sunday.
He wouldn’t have been put into a game with the team trailing 1-2 at halftime and staring at a four-game slog of a schedule against teams currently 12-4.
But it’s far from a perfect world for the Steelers. In fact, it is decidedly imperfect.
Hence their 24-20 loss to the lousy New York Jets.
With the Steelers trailing 6-10 at halftime, Mike Tomlin felt he couldn’t wait any longer and replaced Mitch Trubisky with Pickett.
While Pickett wasn’t great, he had his moments. If Trubisky was just a placeholder for Pickett, then Trubisky has given up his place. Pickett has always been the quarterback of the future. And now the future is the present.
During this week’s Madden Monday podcast, 105.9 The X and TribLIVE’s Mark Madden said there’s no turning back once a first-round draft pick quarterback comes into play.
More Steelers news
• Voiced Complaints: Defensive failures, improper interceptions undermine Kenny Pickett’s Steelers debut in loss to Jets
• Mitch Trubisky ‘disappointed’, had not expected to be benched as Steelers QB
• Kenny Pickett replaces Mitch Trubisky but Jets sprints past Steelers in late TD
Although this quarterback’s first start in Buffalo will be against defending AFC East champ Bills. Followed by a visit from Tom Brady and AFC South champions Tampa Buccaneers. Then away games against the 3-1 Miami Dolphins and 4-0 Philadelphia Eagles.
“You have to stay with Pickett now,” Madden said. “I’ve been saying from the moment that Pickett goes in, the minute he goes in, he has to be the starter until he’s injured or until he decisively proves he can’t. And that’s in years — to prove that for a No. 1 pick, 20th overall.”
Madden said there was a domino effect from Sunday’s move.
“Now the big debate is, Trubisky should be the third-string quarterback and (Mason) Rudolph should be the backup. I have no idea why people would want that or what the meaning of that would be. But that’s what I see,” Madden said.
The problem for the Steelers is that even if Pickett does well in his rookie year, this team faces a host of other problems. Especially on the defensive.
And there is no way Pickett can help these problems.
“Unless (Pickett) can go both ways and also play defense, that’s certainly true. The Steelers had a 10-point lead over a pretty bad team in the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium that they couldn’t hold. Zach Wilson rode the Jets down the field twice with – I wouldn’t say minimal effort because he looked pretty good – but how hard was it? The Steelers defense only put up token resistance,” Madden said.
Also, on the podcast, Madden and I analyze any issues on the defensive side of the ball. We’re talking about the state of AFC North. We’re getting some trouble with the Steelers receivers and offensive linemen. Also, we break down the Penguins’ training camp cuts and Aaron Judge versus Barry Bonds.
Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Steelers
Tim Benz is a contributor to the Tribune Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.