Following the preseason Week 3 loss against the Detroit Lions, head coach Mike Tomlin revealed when the Pittsburgh Steelers will announce who their starting quarterback will be between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Both quarterbacks played well in the preseason finale on Saturday, with Wilson and Fields leading one touchdown drive apiece. Those were the first touchdown drives either quarterback has led in the exhibition slate.
After the game, Tomlin said the Steelers will announce their decision at the end of the upcoming week. From there, Pittsburgh will have one more week to prepare for the regular-season opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8.
"We'll make a decision at the end of our work week this upcoming week," Tomlin said of the decision, per Teresa Varley of Steelers.com. "We got three days of Steelers versus Steelers work. Why not do it then? It kind of minimizes Steelers versus Steelers work when we start making decisions prior to the completion of that.
"We've got ample time to prepare for Atlanta and make whatever decisions or announcements regarding division of labor or pecking orders and so forth. So, we'll do it at the end of the work week."
Wilson has long been expected to be the starter since Tomlin said he was in the "pole position" all the way back in March, and he has reiterated that on multiple occasions since.
Making it more clear Wilson is still in the lead was the fact that he started the last two preseason games when he was healthy enough to play.
The veteran only saw one drive and was pulled after completing 2-of-2 passes for 26 yards on a drive that was capped off with a 31-yard touchdown run by running back Cordarrelle Patterson. Wilson's best throw was a 26-yard strike to George Pickens to help set up the score.
Fields fared better than he did last week, also, and got about a quarter of action before being pulled midway through the second. At this point, it would be shocking if he were named the starter over Wilson for Week 1.
