At halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ Week 4 loss to the New York Jets, Mike Tomlin made the decision to bench starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky for first-round rookie Kenny Pickett. For most, this move seemed to come at the right time, if not a bit late, as the Steelers had been struggling to put points on the board with Trubisky.
Basically, everyone assumed the move was done in large part due to Trubisky’s ineffectiveness at the QB position. However, as Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette passes along, Trubisky was actually initially benched for a different reason altogether.
According to Dulac’s team sources, Trubisky was benched after a halftime confrontation with his teammate, wide receiver Diontae Johnson. Specifically, Johnson started ripping into his QB, yelling at Trubisky for not getting him the ball more often. Steelers fans might remember Johnson let an opportunity slip by, dropping a pass, leading to an interception in Week 4. He also was unable to get his feet down during what could have been a touchdown catch in the end zone.
But Trubisky didn’t appreciate the way Johnson was speaking to him, so the QB fired back at his receiver, leading to a heated exchange between the two teammates. It was then that Tomlin let Pickett know he would be starting in the second half.
It likely created an awkward situation within the locker room, which seems to have directly led to Pickett getting the call instead, both after the half and the following week against the New England Patriots when he made his starting debut. But Pickett suffered a concussion midway through Pittsburgh’s Week 6 battle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which prompted coach Tomlin to go back to Trubisky.
Now with Pickett’s status for Week 7 up in the air, it could potentially give Trubisky a chance to re-take his starting spot in Pittsburgh.
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