After another lousy performance on the offensive side of the ball, Mike Tomlin decided to shake things up and supplant Mitch Trubisky with Kenny Pickett in the second half of the 24-20 loss to the Jets.
"We just thought we needed a spark," Tomlin explained. "We didn't do much in the first half, not enough offensively, and thought he could provide a spark for us."
That spark apparently didn't require a dramatic announcement.
"He said '8's in' at halftime," Trubisky said. "That's about all he said."
Immediately, Trubisky was asked postgame if he felt he deserved to be benched. Trubisky quickly responded, "Doesn't matter what I think. He did what he thought was best for the team, and we came up short today."
In talking with Trubisky, it was very clear he wasn't thrilled with the decision to be benched. Just watch his body language when he spoke with us after the game:
In the first half, Trubisky completed 7 of 13 passes for 84 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. In addition, three of only six first-half points were gifted by the Jets committing a roughing the passer penalty on what would have been the final play of the first. That moved the ball up 15 yards and paved the way for Chris Boswell to nail a 59-yard field goal -- the new record at Acrisure Stadium.
"Took some shots. Didn't connect. Didn't score enough points. Got pulled at halftime. That's how it goes," Trubisky said. "It's just business as usual. We've gotta find a way to pull together as a team and get better from here. I'm disappointed obviously. But it's part of it."
To put this in context of numbers, Pickett wound up with three interceptions and no touchdown passes. Both quarterbacks threw 13 passes, but Pickett finished with a 65.1 rating while Trubisky finished with a rating of 41.8. Remember, rating doesn't forgive whether an interception was a quarterback's fault or not. An unbiased formula rated Pickett as the better quarterback.
One reason is Pickett completed every pass that wasn't intercepted. He also averaged 9.2 yards per attempt, which is an elite number. Trubisky's 6.5 YPA in the first half was significantly lower.
Outside the numbers, the eye test continued to do Trubisky little favors. He was late with his reads, took way too long to get the ball out and remained inconsistent with his throws. Even the simple plays that can help convert third-and-medium situations were dragged down by sloppy play.
Take a look at this failed conversion. Trubisky has Jaylen Warren open where if he hits him quickly and accurately, Warren can use the momentum from the pass, turn upfield and have a good chance of getting the first down. Instead, Trubisky waits entirely too long, throws behind Warren and leaves him no room to do anything after the catch:
This play personifies the Steelers' offense with Trubisky at quarterback. And it's no coincidence the Steelers were 1 for 6 on third down with Trubisky, then converted 5 of 6 in the second half with Pickett. The rookie brought an "edge" to the offense, and it produced 14 points in the second half.
Even with the stark differences between how the offense performed under both quarterbacks, Tomlin refused to name a starting quarterback for next week at Buffalo. That means the quarterback controversy will be hitting a new high this week. Trubisky said he has no expectations yet for how that decision will go.
"Just come into work, be a good teammate, continue to try and be a leader for this team and go back to work and help any way I can," Trubisky said. "It's a tough deal. It's definitely not what I wanted and not what I expected, but it's part of it."
