Steelers go with Russell Wilson over Justin Fields as starting QB

PITTSBURGH — Russell Wilson will start at quarterback in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ season opener in Atlanta, coach Mike Tomlin announced Wednesday.

Wilson, who signed a one-year deal with the Steelers in March, entered the offseason in “pole position” for the starting job, according to Tomlin. He retained the spot despite a calf injury that sidelined him throughout the majority of the Steelers’ training camp.

Justin Fields, whom the Steelers acquired from the  Chicago Bears in a March trade for a conditional sixth-round pick, will back Wilson up.

“I met with both quarterbacks here just a few minutes ago after practice, and I informed them that Russ is QB1 going into Week 1,” Tomlin said Wednesday. “It was a difficult decision, but not difficult in a negative way, to be quite honest with you. It was difficult in a positive way. The decision was difficult because of what they’re capable of doing. Decision was difficult because of how they have conducted themselves as opposed to the things that they fall short in in terms of capabilities or negative conduct.

“Both guys have been really professional. I’ve been really excited about getting to know them and their games and having the ability to analyze what both are capable of bringing.”

Meanwhile, the status of one of the players who would be protecting Wilson in Week 1 might be in question. Steelers starting guard Isaac Seumalo left practice Monday with an apparent pectoral injury, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Initial tests showed Seumalo did not suffer a season-ending injury, sources told Schefter, but the team is weighing how much time he could miss.

“We dodged a bullet,” one source told Schefter.

Although Tomlin said the quarterbacks were in a competition for the job throughout the preseason, Wilson always appeared to have the edge, including in the final preseason game, when he played just five snaps and led the first-team offense to a scoring drive before being taken out.

“I know I’m ready,” Wilson said. “We’re ready. And we’re looking forward to playing. And like I said, the goal was to help the Pittsburgh Steelers win in a seventh [Super Bowl] trophy. That’s the reality. And we got to do the work and it’s a long season ahead and it’ll be, I’m just humbled by and grateful that God has given me just another opportunity to wake up this morning and just do what I love to do, what a gift it is. And so, I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Fields played 56 snaps in the preseason to Wilson’s 25. Fields completed 19 of 27 attempts for 199 yards and led one scoring drive, while Wilson completed 10 of 12 attempts for 73 yards and led a scoring drive. Fields averaged 8.3 air yards per attempt, while Wilson averaged 5.7.

“A lot of work got done in the practice setting,” Tomlin said. “You guys come to our practices, they’re intense, and they’re intense by design because we got to know, I hate speculation, it’s a football-like environment. We try to make it as football-like as we can, and I saw enough to be comfortable, certainly.”

Wilson last started a game for the Denver Broncos, the Steelers’ Week 2 opponent, in Week 16 of the 2023 season before being benched for Jarrett Stidham in the final two weeks of that season.

Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl champion with the  Seattle Seahawks, finished last season with 26 touchdowns to eight interceptions, but he was sacked 45 times. Fields, meanwhile, started 13 games for the Bears last season. He threw 16 touchdowns to nine interceptions and was sacked 44 times.

While Fields will be Wilson’s backup, Tomlin didn’t rule out the possibility of featuring him in some packages.

“That’s certainly on the table, but I’m not going to get into many details regarding that or things of that nature because it doesn’t help us from a competitive-advantage standpoint,” Tomlin said. “But make no mistake, his talent — his unique talent as it pertains to mobility — is something that we’re open to weaponizing, although I have acknowledged that Russ is QB1.”