Russell Wilson-Justin Fields Duo Ranked Dead-Last in AFC North as John Madden’s ‘2 QBs Mean No QB’ Echoed Upon Steelers’ QB Dilemma

It looks like the Pittsburgh Steelers are pitting their quarterbacks against each other. While the team has a penchant for Russell Wilson as the starting QB, Justin Fields’ presence in the QB lineup is a huge question mark. However, this competition doesn’t seem to be so friendly from the outside looking in.

John Madden said, “If you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none,” and this is exactly what the 2x Super Bowl champ Logan Ryan reiterated on the show with Colin Cowherd. “When you have two starting quarterbacks that means you don’t have one, you have none. I think Russell has not been playing his best ball. I think he can play better ball and he will play better ball at Pittsburgh,” said Ryan.

He then went on to say, “You’re going to see Justin Fields do something in preseason. Those fans will be hoping and waiting like, ‘Man maybe Russ had a rough game, let’s put him in.” Russell Wilson had an 11-19 record with the Denver Broncos and had 3,070 yards and 26 touchdowns in the season. While his yardage is average, his 26 touchdowns stand out a bit.

Wilson’s AFC competition, Baltimore Raven‘s Lamar Jackson, had 24 touchdowns and 7 interceptions and his conference rival Patrick Mahomes had 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions despite a huge yardage difference between the two. It would be unfair to compare Wilson with Burrow and Deshaun Watson because they didn’t play the whole season.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Logan Ryan thinks that the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to finish last in the AFC North, because of stiff competition in their division. “I think that Baltimore is going to play well with Derrick Henry, and Joe Burrow is back in Cincy, I think that’s going to go well.” Said Ryan.

He further noted, “I think Deshaun Watson needs to show up and play some ball in Cleveland and Cleveland was a pretty good team last year without him. So, where does Pittsburgh stand in that division? And where does the Pittsburgh quarterback standing in that division? Is that the fourth-best quarterback room in that division?”

Joe Burrow in his prime health had a 4,611-yard season with 34 touchdowns. The same season he took Cincy to a Super Bowl. His 2022 season came with 4,475 yards and 35 touchdowns. The trajectory of Burrow’s career is pretty clear. If he didn’t miss the last season due to a wrist injury, who knows where the Cincinnati Bengals might have been.

But coming back to John Madden’s famous words, the competition between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson might hurt the team.

Justin Fields on taking a backseat behind Russell Wilson

The ex-Bears QB handled the situation with poise when was asked about sharing the same locker room with a Super Bowl-winning QB. Fields made everything clear at the start of the OTAs. “I’m definitely competing,” Fields said.

He then added, “Russ knows that. We’re competing against each other every day. I definitely don’t have the mindset of me just sitting all year. I’m coming in every day giving it all I’ve got — pushing him to be his best, and he’s pushing me to be my best each and every day.”

On the surface, it looks like a healthy competition, but the Steelers crowd has a habit of booing their own team and Russell Wilson is not guaranteed to perform well in each game. At some point, Fields will get a chance to prove himself. But throughout history, it has been proven that star QBs don’t like competing with the backup signal callers.

Take the example of Tom Brady in his Patriots career. When Jimmy Garoppolo joined the team in the 2014 season, there were rumors that Brady forced the trade of Jimmy G, which the 7x Super Bowl champion denied. Brady was 37 at this point and just signed an extension with the Patriots, who drafted Jimmy G in the second round of the draft.

A similar thing happened when Aaron Rodgers joined the Packers in 2005 and Brett Favre felt like his team was about to replace him. The animosity between the two seemed apparent when Favre came out and said, “My contract doesn’t state I have to get him ready to play. Now hopefully he watches me and gets something from that. There is no clause that says ‘You groom the next guy who’s going to take your job, or else.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

But Aaron Rodgers chose to break that cycle when the Green Bay Packers hired Jordan Love as his potential replacement. Love and Rodgers were tight-knit. On the contrary, Rodgers used to encourage Love to do better. The 4x MVP and Super Bowl winner still watches Jordan Loves’ games and sends him words of encouragement from time to time.

There is no friction reported between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson as of now. As mentioned earlier, the competition doesn’t seem to be all that friendly. However, words hold different power over different individuals and Fields’ words are open to interpretation. Only time will tell whether Wilson and Fields will face the same fate as Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.