Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields admits he has not played well enough to keep the starting job after being replaced by Russell Wilson.
Fields led the Steelers to a 4-2 start to the season, and while his ability as a dynamic runner gave his team an edge in close games, he has been inefficient as a passer, prompting head coach Mike Tomlin to make a change under center.
Fields and Wilson both joined the Steelers in the offseason, and former Seattle Seahawks star Wilson was in line to be the starter until a calf injury ruled him out of the early weeks of the season. But the one-time Super Bowl champion took first-team reps in practice this week , and he is set to make his debut for the Steelers on Sunday night against the New York Jets.
With Fields leading the Steelers to a winning record, some pundits have questioned the decision to change quarterbacks. But the former Chicago Bears signal-caller said he only has himself to blame.
"I don't think I played good enough if I'm being real with you," Fields told reporters. "If I'm being real myself, I think if I did play well enough, I don't think there would be any sort of, ‘Who should be playing, who should not?’
“At the end of the day, we got a few wins and, of course, I’m glad about that, but there are areas that I could do better at – and I’m going to continue work on those and continue to get better.”
Fields added that he was not satisfied with his performance during the opening six weeks. He said: "Not really. I mean, I want to be 6-0 right now, but it was a great opportunity for me. Of course, I'm grateful for the opportunity. I did get those first six weeks, and we'll just see what happens."
Fields insists he will continue to give his all for the team despite being dropped to the bench. He added: "I'm just doing the same thing I was doing. I just do my job at the end of the day and whether that's playing, it's helping the guys out on the sideline, tell him what I see, helping the rest out if he's out there. So just small stuff like that."
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Although Tomlin is yet to officially announce the quarterback change, Fields' admissions speak volumes. The head coach addressed the situation on Tuesday.
"We were scheduled for Russ to work in totality, he did that over the course of the week, I got comfortable with his ability to display his health," Tomlin said. "Now it's about knocking the rust off. He did some of that last week. He is in consideration this week, we'll see where that leads us."
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