It’s been three weeks since Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson aggravated his calf injury. He has been limited in practice in every practice held since then, including today.
The latest injury report has been released, and Wilson once again was a limited participant.
The news underscores the fact that Justin Fields will continue to start, getting his fourth game of the season on Sunday at Indianapolis. And, if the Steelers win again, it increases the likelihood that the Steelers will continue to ride with Fields, even though Russ is technically still QB1.
The Steelers are wisely resisting the notion of flipping the depth chart from Wilson to Fields. This gives them the best of both worlds. Ride with Fields, and have Russ ready to go, in the event the Steelers need a spark.
If they never make Fields the starter, they wouldn’t be benching Fields. Russ would be healthy again.
And, sure, at some point it will become obvious that Fields is the starter. By then, reporters will stop asking about it. Everyone will know.
It happened with the Vikings in 1998. Brad Johnson suffered a broken leg in Week 2 against the Rams. Randall Cunningham entered the fray and lit it up. The late Denny Green said that Johnson would play when he’s 100 percent.
And then, by the time he was, the Vikings were doing so well under Cunningham that it was never an issue. (Of course, it could be argued that Green should have gone back to Johnson in the second half of the NFC Championship, but if Gary Anderson just makes a 39-yard field goal, it wouldn’t have mattered.)
If the Steelers keep winning, it’ll eventually be a non-issue. If they start to struggle, the Steelers can pivot to Wilson without technically benching Fields.
It’s really the best of both worlds for the Steelers. They didn’t engineer it. It fell into their laps. And they’re doing the smart thing by taking full advantage of the situation.
