So, with the team trailing 10-6 at halftime, Mike Tomlin was faced with a decision. Would he stick with Mitch Trubisky or would he turn to rookie Kenny Pickett at quarterback?
Tomlin ultimately decided to give Pickett a chance. The veteran coach explained why during his postgame news conference.
“I thought we needed a spark,” Tomlin said. “We thought he could provide a spark for us.”
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Pickett was able to pump some life into the crowd at Acrisure Field, as they were energized to see the first-round pick on the field. However, the results with Pickett were mixed.
The first throw of his career was a downfield shot to Chase Claypool. The ball was slightly underthrown and Claypool didn’t exactly do a great job of fighting for it. As such, it was intercepted.
However, after the Steelers forced a turnover, Pickett was able to sneak the ball into the end zone on a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
Pickett helped the Steelers put 14 points on the board in the second half. He had three interceptions, but those were his only incompletions. He was 10 of 13 for 113 yards and largely outperformed Trubisky, who went 7 of 13 for 84 yards and an interception.
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So, will Pickett replace Trubisky as the team’s starter in Week 5 against the Bills? Tomlin isn’t ready to make a call on that matter just yet.
“We did what we needed to do to put ourselves in position to win this game,” he said. “We’ll do it again. I’d like to just keep it where we are in terms of what transpired here today. We’ll deal with next week next week.”
Reports from earlier in the season indicated that Tomlin preferred to sit Pickett and let him learn for his entire rookie season.
But with his team sitting at 1-3, it certainly seems like he’s more open to the idea of starting Pickett than he once was.
