I'll keep this short and very much to the point: Russell Wilson's not wanted by the Steelers.

Like, at all.

I had multiple conversations Thursday with people inside the team, all on my long drive up here to Manhattan to cover hockey, and the universal sentiment among them regarding the player who quarterbacked the offense to a five-loss collapse to close the season was this: Don't try here what you tried in Denver upon that ugly exit from the Broncos after a public spat with Sean Payton, which was to blame others for your shortcomings.

Also this: There's the door.

I'm not at liberty to engage in a lot of details here, and I'd apologize for that except that this is how conversations like these can take place. But I'm here to state as firmly as I possibly can that this nonsense that was echoed by a local newspaper earlier this week about how Wilson was suddenly handcuffed by Arthur Smith after a strong showing in Cincinnati ... was exactly that. Meaning nonsense. Absolutely nothing had changed about Smith's approach in the options he offers to quarterbacks, whether Wilson or Justin Fields, and nothing sure was about to change after Wilson ran up 44 points against the Bengals. But I'm told that Wilson's agents, part of his voluminous entourage, put forth that narrative, and they did so in an apparent attempt to either preserve his status in Pittsburgh or enhance the chance that another team might want him as a starter.

Enunciating every syllable: It won't be here.

No chance.

None.

What actually occurred with Wilson, according to those same people inside the team, is that, as all of our naked eyes could plainly tell us, he wasn't following the play calls, he was holding the ball way too long and, within the latter, he no longer could escape defenders in the backfield. I also heard internal concerns expressed -- for the first time, I might add -- about his arm strength. He just wasn't good, aside from the odd prayer ball he'd heave up for George Pickens.

So, why wouldn't Mike Tomlin have made a change back to Justin Fields as the season was sliding away?

I don't have that answer. Maybe it was that he wouldn't have felt right thrusting Fields back out there for a playoff after two months of rust, but again, I don't know.

Going back further, why would the Steelers have ever signed Wilson if they had worries -- which they did -- about his conduct with the coaches in Denver?

I do have that answer. He was available on a one-year, $1.2 million term and was deemed worth the gamble, given all the problems at the position since Ben Roethlisberger's retirement.

But that's it. That's over.

Happy to answer any questions on this from our subscribers in comments, as always, though I'll remind that I'm here for hockey today with a ton to do on that front, so it might take a while.