JUSTIN FIELDS | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Among the critical issues the off-season Steelers must wrestle with, and eventually resolve, is the identity of next season’s starting quarterback.

Here we go again.

Such resolution is critical any time there’s ever any type of question at quarterback, but that doesn’t mean this one isn’t also a no-brainer. It’s Justin Fields’ time and Justin Fields’ turn.

End of story.

The Russell Wilson Experiment was admirable. Bringing in a veteran of Wilson’s caliber and experience, and one with Wilson’s track record, was a shot worth taking. And for seven games, it was working.

But the last five games betrayed Wilson as insufficient after all — a quarterback whose decision making and skills are diminishing, as is his ability to apply his experience toward getting the Steelers over their Mount Everest-sized postseason hump. Even had this experiment succeeded, the Wilson acquisition should have always been perceived as a one-year proposition.

Fields, conversely, was brought here to be put in the oven, not the microwave. He emerged from his slow-cook first season with the Steelers having made tangible progress toward evolving from what he had been with the Bears: a high-pedigree player with a profound physical skill set who still couldn’t win for losing in Chicago.

The Steelers shouldn’t assume he’s suddenly learned how to quickly read coverages, work through progressions and throw with anticipation when he eventually lets it rip. But those weren’t exactly Wilson’s best attributes, either. The longer Wilson held the ball, the more of a problem it became, especially since at age 36 he could no longer escape and create as well as he used to with his legs.

Fields, 26, has no such issues.

The Steelers, for a variety of reasons, never got around to taking full advantage of Fields’ breathtaking ability with the ball in his hands, on either designed runs or scrambles. Hopefully, they’re aware his best rushing season in the NFL (1,143 yards in 2022) is a mere 63 yards short of the most prolific rushing total posted by Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (1,206 in 2019).

Ideally, they’d have a guy who is also an accomplished passer and a dissector of defenses pulling the trigger. But you can’t just go down to the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady-Joe Burrow Store and place an order.

Their next best option (short of trading up to first overall and drafting Miami’s Cam Ward, a scenario that’s as unrealistic as it would be expensive in draft capital) is to steer into the skid. Their next best option is Fields.

If they can get the offensive line to collectively mature as anticipated (plausible), if they can find a great wide receiver in free agency and an impactful one in the draft (essential) and draft a running back with some explosiveness in his game (very doable), there’s no reason Fields can’t be the Steelers’ version of Philly’s Jalen Hurts.

Yes, it’s a quarterback league. But QB mobility is no longer a bonus at the position; it’s mandatory.

Ask the four QBs who played in conference championship games last Sunday. Three of them threw for fewer than 250 yards (the outlier was Washington’s Jayden Daniels at 255). And the four of them combined for six rushing touchdowns and five passing TDs.

Better yet, ask Patrick Mahomes, the greatest quarterback of this generation and one who might eventually be perceived as the all-time best at the position. He carried seven times when he wasn’t fumbling a read/option handoff or kneeling down while beating Buffalo. Six of those totes produced either a first down or a touchdown.

Fields will never be Mahomes. But he’s established himself as a quarterback who is worth continuing to work with, continuing to polish and hone, one with an upside and one who has something to bring to the table even if that upside is never realized.

Especially if the Steelers get to the point where they trust him enough not to over-coordinate his game.

It made all the sense in the world in 2024 to see what type of impact Wilson could make. It’s now 2025 and it’s time to turn the page.

The Steelers shouldn’t have to over-think this one.

They can save the stress and the obsessing for their myriad of other problems, the solution to most of which isn’t nearly as obvious.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.