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The Pittsburgh offense doesn’t produce enough points. But that’s not enough to bring about a quarterback change. Still.
After Thursday night’s 29-17 loss to the Browns, coach Mike Tomlin was unequivocal in his continued support of current starter Mitch Trubisky. When asked about the possibility of moving from Trubisky to rookie first-rounder Kenny Pickett, Tomlin said: “The answer to this question is definitely no.”
It’s the best opportunity to give Pickett extra time to prepare for the job until the full ninth week goodbye. By then it may be too late. After the week four home game against the Jets, the Steelers face a mini killer lineup of superior enemies: at the Bills, at the Bucs, at the Dolphins, at the Eagles.
The Steelers, currently 1-2, could go 2-6 in eight weeks. That could make it very difficult to win enough of the last nine games to conquer the division or slip into one of the three wild card slots in the AFC.
It would also increase the pressure on Tomlin to avoid his first losing season. He would have to go 7-2 on the stretch.
Meanwhile, he has to deal with internal and external pressure to play Trubisky. The fans want the Pitt product. In the building, Trubisky had already lost support prior to the week three loss.
And while Trubisky was better at getting the ball down the field in the passing game, the results weren’t there. Trubisky completed 20 of 32 passes for 207 yards. Not bad, but not good enough to win.
Pickett is clearly the future. Many think the future is now. The man in charge of the team thinks differently and that’s really all that matters.