Once ruling the AFC North, the Steelers’ divisional foes, the Baltimore Ravens, overthrew them in the last games of the regular season. And the people to blame for the Steelers’ failure were head coach Mike Tomlin and QB Russell Wilson. Both have been targets of hate and criticism from the public. When the Steelers lost their last four games, doubters came crawling out of the woodwork. With all the hate thrown his way, the Steelers head coach has been caught in the fire over a QB decision.

Ahead of the playoffs, former Broncos player Mark Schlereth has dropped some serious allegations against coach Tomlin. ” I was here in an interview with Arthur Smith yesterday. And I don’t know maybe you heard the say. I got the sense he wants to make the move to Justin Fields but Mike Tomlin won’t,” said Schlereth on ‘Stinkin’ Truth Podcast.’

When the season kicked off, the Steelers chose veteran Russ over Justin Fields for their QB1. However, due to a calf injury, Wilson couldn’t play for the first six weeks. During that time, Fields stepped up as the starting QB. In Week 7, when Wilson returned, Fields was asked to step back. Since then, people have been divided over the Wilson vs. Fields debate.

While some fans want the Steelers to continue with the veteran QB. Others think it’s time they let the young QB (Fields) lead. Russell has faced a lot of criticism in his first year with the Steelers, with fans already asking the veteran QB to retire.

Mark Schlereth calls out Russell Wilson for poor performance

When Russell Wilson came back in Week 7 after his calf injury, the Steelers moved Justin Fields to backup QB. The move didn’t sit well with many, but Wilson was getting the team wins, so it was all good. Then, in Week 15, everything started to go downhill for the Steelers. And with that, the criticism against Wilson got louder. “Let’s face it, the Rusties are going to go out and make excuses for Russell Wilson. And say well he wasn’t bad you know it’s not his fault, everybody dropped footballs,” said Mark Schlereth. 

Suggesting that the Steelers should go with Justin Fields in the wild-card round game, the sportscaster said, “I would make that move simply because the Baltimore Ravens wouldn’t have really worked on that very much. And it gives them that run threat at the quarterback the RPO at the quarterback.” And honestly, Fields would make a great choice. The 25-year-old has racked up 1,106 yards with five TDs to his name in ten games played so far. Fields’ stats look much better than Wilson’s, who has played in 11 games as the starting QB. The former Seahawks QB has racked up 2,482 yards, with 16 TDs and five interceptions.

While offensive coordinator Arthur Smith sounded eager to bring the young QB back ahead of the crucial game, Mike Tomlin doesn’t seem to want that. “No stone left unturned. It’s what the playoffs are. You’re in a single-elimination tournament. I use that analogy. Let’s burn the boats because you gotta win to stay in, survive and advance. So, we’ll use everything at our disposal assuming it’s the proper thing to do,” said the Steelers OC, ahead of the Ravens clash.

But the team is most likely going to stick with Wilson. So, will Wilson be able to fire back at the trolls with a win? Guess, we’ll have to wait until Saturday night to find out.