PITTSBURGH — Justin Fields wants to be the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback.
The former Chicago Bears first-round pick has been anything but perfect in his first two games but has surged in practice after a rocky first week. To this point, Fields has struggled to translate strong practices into a game setting, leading the offense to score just three points in his eight drives this preseason.
However, Fields feels he has shown what he can, so he believes he can be the team’s QB1.
“I think I’ve shown what I can do,” Fields said. “The time I did have with the ones practicing in training camp, I think we grew a lot each and every day. But, at the end of the day, it’s not up to me. So, yeah, I’m just going to come in here each and every day and be the same person, be a leader for this team, and work my butt off, and everything else will handle itself. ”
Fields said he would love to have first-team snaps, but he is not anticipating anything in the Lions game. Mike Tomlin stated that Russell Wilson would start, but did not state how long Wilson would play or if Fields would see any snaps with the first team.
“I’m not really going into any game expecting [anything]. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I kind of like it that way. I don’t like to say, ‘I’m going to get this amount of drives.’ Like I said, I kind of felt that I was going to stay in the last game. So you just never know how the game might play on,” Fields said.
On the other hand, Tomlin has goals that he wants to see both Wilson and Fields reach. The offense has stagnated, largely due to simple mistakes, and Fields and Wilson have been involved in plays that should have gone the other way.
It’s even more baffling for Fields, who has struggled to make the easy plays. The Ohio State product dotted up the Big Ten with the Buckeyes by making the easy look routine, but with the Bears and now Pittsburgh, he has struggled to connect the dots.
“I want to see him show some of the things that we’ve seen out here in the practice setting, much like I’ve talked about the offensive unit; we’ve had some really good days and shown a really high floor with the potential for splash plays. And so I want to see it in the stadium,” Tomlin said.
The Steelers want to see success on offense. Fields wants to see that, too. That would lead to a win in the preseason, even if they do not count for anything once the regular season starts. Fields can not control anything moving forward, though; clearing his mind of the competition might be the best way to do things.
“I try not to think about stuff that I can’t control; I just think about the stuff that I can control,” Fields said. “I can’t control whether or not I’m going to be named the starter; I can control how I come in every day, how I work every day, how I treat each day.”
Wilson is now fully healthy and seems ready to take on Arthur Smith’s complete playbook after Smith limited him in his debut against the Bills. Meanwhile, Fields is looking for a bounce-back game after a rough outing against the Bills.
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