Russell Wilson went into the preseason with the pole position to be named the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh and he didn’t relinquish it.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin named Wilson the team’s starter for their Week One game in Atlanta on Wednesday. Tomlin previously said that he would make the announcement at the end of the week, but decided to put an early end to the suspense.
Tomlin sent a pretty strong signal about whether Wilson or Justin Fields would get the nod by playing Wilson for one series in the preseason finale. That drive ended in a touchdown, which was something that Wilson couldn’t manage in his first preseason outing, and the Steelers will be hoping that there will be a lot of them coming in the regular season as well.
Wilson’s results in Denver the last two seasons create more than a little reason to doubt that will be the case, but Wilson will get his chance to turn things around in Pittsburgh.