When the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1, it felt like a fluke. When the Steelers defeated the Broncos in Week 2, it felt like an okay team beating up on a bad one. And in Week 3, when the Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers, it finally felt like Justin Fields had to be taken seriously as the Steelers' quarterback moving forward, as he finally completed more than 200 passing yards, picked up a touchdown through the air and another on the ground, and it felt like he'd finally arrived.
So why, after turning in his best statistical game of the season in Week 4, surpassing 300 passing yards through the air and 50 yards on the ground plus three total touchdowns versus four sacks, are some fans still asking for him to be benched for Russell Wilson when he's fully healthy despite all of his accomplishments?
Yes, Wilson is a captain, yes, he was supposed to be the guy this season, and yes, there are still areas where Fields can improve, but after watching him put in work over the past few weeks as an efficient game manager, is there really any reason for Mike Tomlin to send his current starting quarterback to the bench for his expected one? No, the answer is no.
1. Justin Fields is playing better than advertised for the Steelers
When news broke that Fields was going to start for the Steelers in Week 1, it felt like a borderline guaranteed bad decision for the Steelers.
Sure, Fields was a starter for multiple years in Chicago, came off the board in the first round, and was one of the better quarterbacks in Ohio State history, which is saying something, but reports out of camp signified that Fields really wasn't playing up to snuff, was beaten fairly definitively by Wilson and as a result, the latter was given a captain's star on his chest to open up the year as the presumed starter.
And yet, through the first four weeks of the season, Fields has been better than advertised; in four games starting for the Steelers this season, Fields has completed 77 of his 109 passing attempts for 830 yards and three passing touchdowns. Sure, he's been sacked ten times, some of which were his fault, and had a brutal snap in Week 4, but he's also picked up 145 yards as a rusher on just 38 attempts and has scored three more rushing touchdowns as the clear focal point of the Steelers' offense.
Sitting pretty at 3-1 with the best record in the AFC North, Fields has operated within the confines of Arthur Smith's offense well – sometimes too well, in fact – and has done so effectively, to the point where he is anything but Pittsburgh's biggest issue.
2. Justin Fields is making good decisions with the ball
Through his first three years in the NFL, Fields has not been what you would call an effective NFL quarterback.
Starting 38 of the 40 games he appeared in, Fields led the Bears to a 10-28 record while only completing just 60.3 percent of his passes and throwing for an average of 166.9 yards per game. Over those 40 appearances, he's thrown for 40 passing touchdowns versus 30 interceptions, and while they weren't completely his fault, he was still sacked 135 times over 40 games in no small part because of his slow decision-making, leading in no small part to ultimately being traded away for a sixth-round pick, plus maybe a fourth as a result.
In Pittsburgh, however, Fields has taken a step forward pretty much across the board, completing 70.6 percent of his passes instead of 60.3, averaging 207.5 yards per game instead of 166.9, and averaging a quarterback rating of 98, which is a notable bump from his 82.3 as a member of the Bears.
Really, the only major issue Fields has had in Pittsburgh, other than being a bit too conservative and overlooking open receivers downfield – is fumbling the ball, as much like in Chicago, Fields has coughed up the ball four times – with two lost – which is in line with his career averages with the Bears.
Still, if Steelers fans were told that Fields would only turn the ball over three times versus 147 combined dropbacks and rushing attempts, most would feel pretty happy about his production, especially considering the Steelers went 3-1 in October when he's under center. While Wilson may be able to unlock a deep element down the field for the Steelers that Fields has largely avoided, it's hard to imagine a world where he's more efficient, as completing 70 percent of his passes would be a new career-high for the OSU product.
3. The Steelers still haven't retooled around Fields' strengths
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And reason number three as to why the Steelers should keep Fields under center instead of exiling him to the bench is because Pittsburgh hasn't even seen what he can do in an offense built around his specific set of skills.
That's right, because Fields was such a late insertion into the Steelers offense in Week 1, he was largely tasked with running an offensive gameplan designed by Smith for Wilson, who is more of a pocket passer that loves deep vertical concepts than a horizontal passer who can chunk up a defense with a legs.
Discussing the idea of making the Steelers' offense more Fields-friendly ahead of Week 4, Smith noted that he wants to make more downfield passes moving forward to take advantage of the OSU product's arm instead of just using him as a game manager.
“We certainly try. You know, sometimes those numbers can be misleading,” Smith explained to reporters via Steelers Nation. “Sometimes when you're calling, trying to take a shot, like the first play of the game we were trying to take a shot, and Justin had to scramble. So there's times where we have pushed the ball downfield, now it hasn't come to life. So we have done that, I mean the first play of the game was a shot, he just ended up scrambling.”
Fortunately, the Steelers did make a concerted effort to throw the ball more in Week 4, with Fields recording his first 300-yard passing game since Week 4 of 2023. He targeted George Pickens early and often, giving the former Day 2 pick his best game of the season, and even hit Pat Freiermuth for his first touchdown of the season on the way to a season-best 57-yard reception.
Is Fields perfect? No but he's done enough to at least keep the Steelers very competitive, has improved in areas where he was once a liability, and just might be able to thrive in Pittsburgh's well-established ecosystem now that he's free of Chicago's dysfunction While nothing in the NFL is guaranteed, the upside it worth the opportunity cost, especially since Wilson will likely be gone at the end of the season either way.
