Mitchell Trubisky’s chance to stay as starting QB for the rest season is becoming more unlikely with each game. The Steelers have now lost their second game in a row as the offense once again failed to produce against a battered and broken Browns defense.
Yeah, I think we’re all seeing why Mitchell Trubisky was a 1st round bust. For a third straight game, the Steelers failed to score more than two offensive touchdowns against their opponents with Mitch Trubisky having contributed to only three touchdowns all season long. Just for comparison, Tua Tagovailoa threw 4 TDs (1 more than Trubisky’s 3 total TDs) against the Baltimore Ravens defense in a single quarter!
Plus, with Trubisky’s highest passing yards thrown in a game thus far at only 207 (which was last night), it’s clear that Trubisky just doesn’t have the arm talent to compete in the NFL regularly. And last night proved it again as, like I said, Trubisky threw his season high 207 passing yards, 0 TD, and 0 INT against the battered Browns defense.
And it’s not like that injury-hampered Browns defense had a shutdown performance either as they only managed to sack Trubisky once and hit him on another two occasions. There were so many injuries in this game that the Browns were forced to put in backups for their entire linebacker core and much of their secondary.
Thus, the reason why the Steelers offense floundered again was solely down to Mitch’s inability to find his receivers.
I’m actually kind of shocked that Trubisky only went 20/32 (63%) as I could have sworn he missed at least twenty open throws. Even his own receivers, who voted him as a team captain only a few weeks back, were becoming visibly frustrated by his inability to pass accurately.
It must really stink to be Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, Pat Freiermuth, and George Pickens at the moment. They all have superstar WR qualities about them and each can break out for 100-yard games easily, but they have had two incapable QBs throwing to them the past two seasons.
With Ben Roethlisberger, he knew where and how to place the ball to his receivers, but his arm was simply so shot that it could no longer get the ball downfield for 20+ yard gains.
On the other hand, Trubisky still has his arm in good condition, but it has no strength or accuracy to speak of. With Trubisky at QB, it’s no better than having a horse playing under center. Sure, he can run fast and has good agility, but he’s got no throwing mechanics or accuracy to speak of.
Though, I do have to say that Trubisky did (somehow) connect with Pickens for the CATCH OF THE YEAR (no joke it was unbelievable how Pickens caught the ball). I don’t know how Pickens was able to contort his body backwards, locate the ball, and then catch it one-handed all in the same motion.
He’s going to be a star in this league for years to come…though hopefully he has a different QB under center when that happens.
Anyway, the true star of the game was not that throw and catch, George Pickens, or even the Cleveland defense that only let up 14 points, but Nick Chubb. Cleveland’s superstar RB ate up the Steelers running defense and delivered this win for the Browns singlehandedly.
With 24 carries, 114 rushing yards, 1 TD, and nearly 5.0 yards/attempt, Nick Chubb absolutely dominated the Steelers and proved his value as one of the best running backs in the NFL today.
Even though Jacoby Brisset had a pretty decent game (21/31 (68%), 220 passing yards, 2 TDs), the only way the Browns can stay in the playoff chase until Deshaun Watson comes back is by pounding and grinding opposing defense on the backs of Nick Chubb and his RB partner Kareem Hunt.
These two will be vital if Cleveland has a chance of staying in .500 or better shape come December 3rd and Watson’s long-awaited return to football.
As for the Steelers, I think we’re all starting to realize that this is going to be a long season for the Black and Gold. Mitchell Trubisky is DEFINITELY not the guy, while Kenny Pickett is still too young (probably) to mount a serious playoff push.
Nevertheless, there’s no way the Steelers will have a terrible record as that’s just not what being a Mike Tomlin teams entails. The two-time Super Bowl winning head coach is a winner as he’s never had a losing season in 15 years as the Steelers HC!
Yes, they’ll miss the playoffs this season, unless Pickett comes in and lights the world on fire, but they won’t be atrocious. Tomlin and the Steelers are playing the long game with Pickett and this team.
PS: What were the Browns thinking with that elf logo? I can’t believe how comically STUPID that guy looks in the middle of the field. Do the Browns really think Santa will come early this year for them because they put one of his workers on their field? Well, I guess he kind of is as Deshaun Watson is coming back in early December…
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