Steelers QB situation: Why an old Eagles team could be the key to Russell Wilson, Justin Fields projections

They say history repeats itself, and the NFL is no exception.

Look no further than the Buffalo Bills ' exit from the 2023 playoffs, in which a wide-right field-goal try mirrored their infamous collapse of 33 years prior. Or Jordan Love's emergence as the Green Bay Packers ' quarterback after three years on the bench, the same amount of time his predecessor, Aaron Rodgers , waited to take over for Brett Favre. Or Rodgers' move from Green Bay to the New York Jets , a sequel to Favre's own leap from the Midwest to the Big Apple.

All sheer coincidences? Maybe. The past, after all, doesn't necessarily affect the future. It can, however, be instructive in forecasting what lies ahead.

Which brings us to Pittsburgh, home to arguably the NFL's most intriguing quarterback competition of the 2024 season. The Steelers were uncharacteristically proactive in reshaping the position this offseason, and understandably so. (Since late-stage Ben Roethlisberger , or the better part of the last decade, they've gotten practically the bare minimum under center, which only magnifies the improbability of head coach Mike Tomlin's historic streak of non-losing seasons in an offensively geared league.) Gone is Kenny Pickett , a first-round pick beleaguered by undercooked protection and staffing. Taking his place: Russell Wilson and Justin Fields , two of the most accomplished veteran quarterbacks available.

Wilson has been in "pole position" for the top job, as Tomlin has put it, since his arrival as the seasoned arm. Yet it was Fields who opened camp as the starter, with Wilson nursing an abrupt calf injury, reigniting both local and national interest in what the future holds for this unusual pairing. These are two well-known quarterbacks with polarizing histories, and yet they are also major mysteries in their new scenery. Which is why we turn now to the past, to another NFL team inside the Pennsylvania borders, for potential clues.

Enter the quarterback room of the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles .

Steelers loyalist Demetri George deserves credit for drawing this writer's attention to the initial parallels. It's not that Wilson and Fields are carbon copies of Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick, the headliners of this particular Eagles group. McNabb, after all, had arguably the best long-term run of any quarterback in Eagles history, whereas Wilson is a newbie to Steel City. And Vick was a face of the entire NFL early in his own career, whereas Fields is still carving out his pro image at 25.

The similarities are arguably much greater than the differences, however.

At the height of his career, McNabb was best known for pairing pesky elusiveness with a big-play arm, ducking and dodging and fleeing from the pocket while training his eyes downfield. In 2009, the Eagles great was by most accounts exiting his prime at age 33, a well-trodden and formerly elite starter whose declining mobility and durability put him "on notice" as a No. 1. Despite a long run of playoff bids -- he and the Eagles made the postseason in seven of nine seasons prior to 2009 -- he was briefly benched in 2008, and faced increasing scrutiny as the splashy upside of peers like Vick lurked in the background.

Wilson is a bit older at 35, but you could swap out the dates and team names and essentially land in the same place. A standard-setter for dual-threat stardom with the Seattle Seahawks , he thrived as a play-extending deep-ball thrower to make the playoffs in eight of his first 10 seasons. Now, he's fresh off a three-year slide marred by bruises, sluggish play and a 2023 benching by the Denver Broncos , "on notice" as a journeyman with a one-year, prove-it deal in Pittsburgh -- and an electric backup waiting in the wings.

Vick and Fields complete the comparison. The former was 29 in 2009, and returning from a prison sentence, a far cry from the 25-year-old Fields, who is simply exiting a mercurial run with the Chicago Bears (also a sort of prison, some sour Bears fans might argue). And yet both are/were 1.) former first-round starters cast off by their original teams, 2.) eager to restore their reputation while starting fresh with backup gigs on superior teams, 3.) especially dependent on their world-class athleticism. It's fitting these two are right next to each other in the NFL's all-time record books for single-season rushing totals by quarterbacks, because they scream "home-run potential" more than "reliable franchise quarterback."

Throw in the team-specific parallels -- the 2009 Eagles and 2024 Steelers are/were both desperate to get "over the hump" as contenders under proven, longtime head coaches -- and it's hard to get much closer. Stylistically, and situationally, Pittsburgh is rolling out a dynamic that's rare but was seen before.

So what, you ask? Where does that lead us? What, if anything, can the 2009 Eagles teach us about what to expect from the 2024 Steelers? Certainly this is where things get tricky; every NFL season is a Pandora's box of injury- and performance-related possibilities. As a reference point, though, here's a refresher on what became of the McNabb-Vick setup in Philadelphia:

McNabb never wavered in his grip on the top job that season, turning in a mostly solid Pro Bowl season interrupted only by minor injury, but was noticeably erratic in a one-and-done playoff showing, prompting years-long trade whispers to finally come to fruition. Vick, meanwhile, was scarcely deployed in his 2009 Eagles debut, flashing only intermittently as a gadget runner, but in a bit of foreshadowing also had the splashiest play of Philly's lone playoff game, a 76-yard touchdown strike. The following April, the Eagles traded McNabb, and the following September, Vick burst onto the scene as a rejuvenated big-play weapon, despite the team declining to make him the official starter going into 2010.

If Wilson is McNabb 2.0, he profiles as a serviceable, if temporary, figurehead for a Steelers team that arguably has just enough talent and/or coaching wherewithal to reach the playoffs -- but maybe not make a ton of noise once there. And if Fields is Vick 2.0, he profiles as the explosive, if underused, role player with better odds of stealing the show down the road, be it late in 2024 or even 2025, if/when the Steelers restart a competition under center, still desperate to identify their next true face of the franchise. It wouldn't be far off how both quarterbacks have been characterized all along -- Wilson as the "safe" but short-term bet; Fields as the dynamic project -- but rather confirmation of such characterizations.

Until then? We simply wait and see. And prepare ourselves for the possibility of history repeating itself.