It didn’t look like it would be the best offensive day of the season for the Steelers early in Sunday’s game, but that’s exactly how things wound up playing out in Pittsburgh.
Justin Fields ran for a touchdown and threw another while posting 245 passing yards in a 20-10 win over the Chargers. The victory moves the Steelers to 3-0 and Fields’s performance makes it hard to imagine the team will be changing quarterbacks by choice anytime soon.
Fields only threw for 273 yards in his first two starts this season and the Steelers went three-and-out on each of their first two drives, but he completed his first 12 passes on Sunday and his touchdown run in the second quarter kept things close. Fields then led a pair of field goal drives in the third quarter — he also had a tipped pass picked off — and then hooked up with wide receiver Calvin Austin for a back-breaking 55-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
That accounted for the final margin of victory, but it felt like the game was over when Justin Herbert was forced out in the third quarter. Herbert came into the game with an ankle injury and he aggravated it on a sack by Elandon Roberts. Taylor Heinicke got sacked three times after entering the game and the Chargers had little hope of rallying once their quarterback left the contest.
Los Angeles also saw left tackle Rashawn Slater, right tackle Joe Alt, and edge rusher Joey Bosa leave with injuries, so they have a long list of concerns heading into a Week Four date with the Chiefs.
Austin had a career-high 95 receiving yards and George Pickens had five catches for 57 yards. Najee Harris and Cordarrelle Patterson combined for 103 rushing yards, including several big runs to kill the clock late in the fourth quarter. The end result was 346 yards of offense for a Steelers team that will now head to a date with the Colts as they try to remain undefeated.
Russell Wilson’s health will be updated heading into that game, but Fields’s play and the team’s record should leave the status quo in place regardless of where things stand with his calf.