Analyst has gloomy prediction about Steelers' Russell Wilson, Justin Fields

Three-time Super Bowl champion and current NFL analyst Mark Schlereth has left little doubt over the past several months that he's no fan of current Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Russell Wilson.

That doesn't mean Schlereth believes 25-year-old Justin Fields would become a revelation with the Steelers if he started more games than Wilson before Week 18 of the upcoming season wraps up.

"This is a one-and-done competition with the Steelers," Schlereth said about Pittsburgh's quarterback situation during a Wednesday appearance on the FS1 "Breakfast Ball" program, as shared by Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. "They'll move on from these two guys next year."

Neither Wilson nor Fields is signed beyond the 2024 campaign, and both left plenty to be desired from the start of training-camp practices through Pittsburgh's preseason finale at the Detroit Lions this past weekend.

Some thought Fields went into that matchup with a legitimate chance to win the starting gig , but The Athletic's Mike DeFabo pointed out that the fact that head coach Mike Tomlin "chose to pull Wilson after a single series (against Detroit) would seem to indicate he had seen enough — and that Wilson is his quarterback."

Per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Tomlin confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Wilson will start Pittsburgh's Week 1 game at the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8.

Tomlin famously has never endured a losing season since he accepted the Pittsburgh job in 2007. Schlereth thinks that streak will come to an end because of who is in the club's quarterback room combined with the state of an offensive line that produced shaky performances across three preseason games.

"...When you have two battling and two guys that are suspect with taking sacks and some of the other things they do on a day-to-day basis at the quarterback position, you don't have a chance," Schlereth said about Wilson and Fields.

Specifically, StatMuse shows that Wilson took the most regular-season sacks (100) among NFL quarterbacks across the previous two campaigns. Fields took the second-most sacks (99) while with the Chicago Bears over that same period .

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Steelers at +120 betting odds to win over 8.5 games for the upcoming season.

Such forecasts show Schlereth isn't the only noteworthy member of the NFL community who believes Tomlin is about to experience his first losing campaign as an NFL head coach after he named the winner of what Schlereth referred to as "one of the worst QB competitions of all time."