Mike Tomlin Sucks at Quarterback Changes

Kenny Pickett is the new starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Those outside the organization have been wondering what took so long. Following the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger the Steelers took Pickett with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

After a strong preseason, many people thought Pickett would step right into the starting role. Instead, Mitch Trubisky, who washed out of Chicago and held a clipboard in Buffalo, was named starter and team captain. He proceeded to lead the Steelers offense to one of the worst starts in the league before he was finally, mercifully benched at halftime in Week 4. The fact that it happened in the middle of the game meant that the Steelers clearly had no intention of actually turning to Pickett.

Now they're stuck with a rookie who is about to face four of the top 16 scoring defenses over the next month before their bye week. By yards allowed they're going to face the first, third and eighth-toughest defenses in the league in Buffalo, Miami and Tampa Bay. Not an ideal situation for anyone, but that's what Pickett faces.

The good news is that whatever happens the team will take accountability all the way up the chain of command to coach Mike Tomlin who made it clear that Trubisky wasn't the only one to blame for the poor start saying quarterbacks get too much praise and blame.

Sure sounds like Tomlin would be comfortable going back to Trubisky since this wasn't his fault.

You can tell when someone has never done something before and Tomlin has clearly never had to chose a starting quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger was entrenched when Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher in 2007 and aside from when he was injured in 2019, he's basically just been able to roll the ball out and know Roethlisberger would pick it up and chuck it and the results barely mattered over the last decade because the Steelers won the Super Bowl in his second season.

Now he's faced with a real choice and clearly messed it up. This isn't second guessing. No one thought Mitch Trubisky was the future of the position for the Steelers. No one thought it would go well. And if you ever want to make a quarterback question his worth, sit him behind Mitch Trubisky as he throws two touchdown passes in three games.

For the sake of the people of Pittsburgh, let's hope that Pickett was the right choice because Mason Rudolph is still on the roster just biding his time for another audition for the job. After that, who knows. Pittsburgh is one of the few places Josh Johnson has never played. The Broncos might be looking to offload Russell Wilson if he doesn't come back to life. Things can actually get worse and with Mike Tomlin finally forced to pick a starting quarterback, they sure seem like they can.