PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields might have secured the starting quarterback spot with his standout performance in Sunday’s 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers at Acrisure Stadium.
Fields completed 25 of 32 passes (78.1 percent) for 245 yards, with one touchdown, one interception, and a rating of 96.0. He also had a 5-yard rushing touchdown. It’s the third straight came that Fields posted a quarterback rating over 90.
Justin Fields feels cool, calm and collected in Pittsburgh. That’s where he feels he improved the most compared to his first three seasons in Chicago.
“Just overall seeing the field. I feel like I’m just very calm out there,” Fields said. “Cool, calm and collected on the field and really just that sense of peace out there on the field and not really rushing things internally in my brain. Just staying calm in the pocket and making plays when I can and just doing my job.”
Fields had a tumultuous three-year tenure with the Bears. The environment was toxic on many levels. Fields had two head coaches and three different offensive coordinators in his three years in the Windy City. How can a young quarterback develop and grow in a situation like that?
It just shows what a stable organization and coaching can do. For the first time in his career, Fields has won three consecutive games.
“It means a lot, but at the end of the day, it’s not just me winning games. It’s the whole team,” Fields said of the 3-0 start. “We definitely look forward to keeping it going next week versus Indy.”
Fields threw a game-sealing 55-yard touchdown to Calvin Austin III in the fourth quarter, and it was an absolute dime.
“Just a concept. Get GP (George Pickens) on a little corner route, me wrapping around him. GP garnering the attention he deserves,” Austin said. “They went down and Justin threw it right behind his head. It was basically the same concept that we threw to Cordarrelle (Patterson) earlier in the game but the safety was a little more center field, driving down. So he broke it up on that one. But it definitely was the same concept.”
Austin said Fields has been a leader on the team from Day 1.
“What he’s been doing since he got here. Always being cool and collected, communicating all the time on the sideline, getting guys on the same page and just doing exactly what we need him to do to lead us,” he said.
Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr. also praised Fields’ leadership.
“I think he’s been doing a really good job leading this offense. He’s staying poised in the ‘weighty’ moments, keeping us engaged, keeping us together and just bringing energy,” Moore said. “He’s been bringing confidence in the huddle that we have all been feeding off of. He’s really been bringing this offense forward.”
Fields didn’t light up a weak defense, either. The Chargers came into Sunday’s game as the No. 1 ranked defense.
“Feels great. … I think they were ranked No. 1 defense in the NFL coming into this thing,” Fields said. “We knew we had a big test in front of us, but we have a pretty good defense that we go up against every day.”
Fields believes the dam is starting to break for the offense.
“Yeah, it is. I think we could have scored one more touchdown if I didn’t throw that interception,” he said. “Like I said, we’re just going to keep working and keep getting better and keep improving.”
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Pittsburgh.