While the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to rally late in the year, winning seven of their last eight games, it wasn’t the typical season we’ve come to expect from Mike Tomlin’s teams. Yet, heading into the season with a quarterback competition between Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett, we knew Diontae Johnson and the rest of the team’s passing offense could be set for trouble.
Yet, even coach Tomlin likely didn’t anticipate the level of trouble his team was in, even inside their own locker room.
According to CBS Sports, the tension between Trubisky and Johnson reached a boiling point at some time prior to the team’s Week 4 matchup against the New York Jets. We already knew this, to an extent, with earlier reports suggesting there was a halftime incident that led to Trubisky’s benching at the time.
Yet, what we didn’t previously know, is that Johnson, the team’s leading receiver, actually reportedly punched Trubisky in the face before the team’s Week 4 loss. At least that’s the story from Gregg Giannotti of CBS Sports.
Giannotti spoke to those familiar with the situation, one of whom said the team had a ‘bug’ going around in the locker room, and that was why they fell flat against the Jets. Yet, another source laughed at that report, suggesting this bug was actually internal friction among Steelers players.
Here’s the full story, as told by Giannotti on CBS Sports with Boomer Esiason serving as his co-host.
For those non-video types unable to access the clip, basically, the story is that Johnson punched Trubisky in the face during the week, which inevitably later led to the QB getting benched at halftime. Not the guy who punched someone. Instead, the guy who was on the receiving end of the blow gets benched? How is that fair?
Well, as Steelers fans would likely tell you, turn on the tape. Once Trubisky was replaced by Pickett, the Steelers went 7-5, compared to 2-3 from Trubisky for the rest of the season.
Perhaps coach Tomlin noticed the team’s chemistry was off and realized a change had to happen. For what it’s worth, the Steelers scored 14 of their 20 points after Trubisky’s benching, so the change seemed to spark some sort of flame.
Related: Diontae Johnson doesn’t want to see Mitch Trubisky back in Pittsburgh Steelers lineup
Diontae Johnson refutes claims that he punched Mitch Trubisky
With the report of Johnson punching his teammate broke on Friday morning, it didn’t take long for the 26-year-old Steelers receiver to refute the story, as predicted.
The original tweet Johnson was replying to has now been deleted, but it was simply passing along the possible tall tale of Johnson punching Trubisky. Clearly, as Johnson’s reply of ‘capping’ indicates, he’s telling us the story is not true. He also had another tweet suggesting the whole story was “fake news.”
We may never know what happened in that locker room, but stories like this sure are fun to hear about. True or not.