The Pittsburgh Steelers may have already made a decision on their starting quarterback. Whether it’s Mitchell Trubisky or Kenny Pickett, head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t ready to tell the public — yet.
“I might, but you’re not going to have that today,” Tomlin said when asked after Sunday’s preseason finale if the Steelers have a starting quarterback. “We’re not going to make knee jerk reactions and statements following a performance. We’ll go through our proper, professional procedure.
“We’ll evaluate the game. We’ll meet with our front office people. We’ll have discussions. We’ll talk internally. We’ll talk external possibilities. We’ll go through our normal procedure this time of year, and we’ll disclose it to you at our leisure, to be quite honest with you.”
Pittsburgh has a tough decision to make in the coming days, but it should be a good one based on how well Trubisky and Pickett have both played. Trubisky got the start Sunday, finishing 15 of 19 for 160 yards and a touchdown (119.3 passer rating). He went 24 of 34 for 283 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the preseason (115.2 rating).
Pickett entered the preseason finale in the second half and finished 10 of 14 for 90 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions (88.4 rating). He faced mostly second-teamers in the preseason, but the first-round rookie went 29 of 36 for 261 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions (124.7 rating). Both Trubisky and Pickett separated themselves from Mason Rudolph, who was also in the race for the starting quarterback job.
Trubisky appears to be in line to start the season, followed by Pickett as the No. 2 quarterback. No matter who wins the job, Trubisky and Pickett will continue to work together and make each other better, just like they did throughout camp.
Both players were still doing the same on the sidelines Sunday, knowing there is a starting quarterback job at stake.
“We were both bouncing ideas off each other on what we saw when we were out there and what we thought was working so that when Mason [Rudolph] was in there, we could relay the same stuff,” Pickett said. “We have a great relationship; the whole quarterback room does. We can talk out ideas on what we see and what we don’t like. We had a really good preseason.”
