Mike Tomlin: No Starting QB Announcement Just Yet

PITTSBURGH — After a month of training camp and three preseason games, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin still isn’t ready to name a starting quarterback, he said following the Steelers’ 19-9 preseason finale win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Mitch Trubisky started his third straight preseason game and once again played well, finishing 15 of 19 for 160 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He finished the preseason 24 of 34 for 283 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Trubisky has worked exclusively with the first team in the three preseason games, and seems to be poised to be come the Steelers next starting quarterback, but Tomlin said he is in no hurry to make that decision or make it official.

“We’re not going to make knee-jerk reactions or statements following a performance,” Tomlin said. “We’ll go through our proper, professional procedure. We’ll evaluate the game. We’ll meet with our front office people. We’ll have discussions. We’ll talk internally. We’ll talk external possibilities. We’ll go through our normal procedure this time of year and we’ll disclose it to you at our leisure, to be quite honest with you.”

The Steelers have plenty of time, as the NFL has built an off week into the schedule in between the final preseason game and first regular season game, so the team’s regular practice schedule won’t start until next week.

“We still have two weeks of work,” Tomlin said. “Just because the games are over, like I told that group in there, we’re going to lean into the developmental opportunities between now and then. We’ve got to move ahead with urgency. We’ve got to prepare with an edge because we need to assume our opponents are doing the same.”

Trubisky said that he “feels confident” with the work that he has done, but confirmed that he had not been told about who will be the starting quarterback.

Kenny Pickett again performed well in the second spot in the rotation, while Mason Rudolph got minimal playing time in the fourth quarter. It seem that if Tomlin still has yet to make a decision, that he will be picking between his team’s top free agent signing in Trubisky and first-round draft pick in Pickett.