wilson88 Russell Wilson (left) and Justin Fields (right) have yet to impress Mike Tomlin enough to take over as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-string quarterback. wilson88

Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin admits deciding between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields as the Steelers’ starting quarterback has become more difficult as both have failed to impress as expected, NFL Network reports. ( wilson88 )

Wilson returned from a calf injury to lead the Steelers into Saturday’s preseason friendly against the Bills, but the Steelers’ offense failed to perform as expected regardless of who led the offense, falling to a 3-9 loss. 

“You know, it’s not what we’re looking for,” Tomlin said after the Bills game. “It’s better in some areas, but there are still too many problems in other areas.” 

Tomlin started Wilson in the Steelers’ preseason game but struggled on five drives, with the 35-year-old quarterback leading the Steelers just one first down on the first four drives and a long third-down situation that failed to materialize.

The best drive was Wilson’s final drive, on third down before throwing the ball to wide receiver Van Jefferson for an 11-yard catch. He then threw a deep pass to wide receiver George Pickens, but the reception fell short and the drive ended with a missed field goal. Wilson finished the game completing 8 of 10 passes for 47 yards and three sacks. 

“When you can’t win possessions early in a game, those things stop,” Tomlin said. “All in all, separate from each other, I thought we didn’t do a good job protecting the quarterback. We have to do a better job protecting the ball than we did, not just on the ball possession, but overall.”

‘I told the group very frankly that it will not be a problem for us. We have to play better than we are now.’ 

The performance in the two preseason warm-up games has made it increasingly difficult for Tomlin to assess the quarterback’s performance. 

‘It’s not a complete education because you don’t get a chance to see them play or us play or we create rhythm and character when you’re not winning possession.’ 

‘And we didn’t do that. In the first three series of the game, it was a three-and-out and you didn’t have a chance to create rhythm or play the way you wanted as an individual or as a group.’