Kovacevic: It's inevitable Pickett will supplant Trubisky ... ideally soon

The correct answer was the third quarter of the second game.

Or, for anyone who prefers to be exceptionally precise, it was at 2:56 p.m. on this sunsplashed Sunday at Acrisure Stadium that Mitch Trubisky was booed off the field by the 67,307 faithful on hand, followed almost immediately by a chant of 'KEN-NY! KEN-NY' from the upper deck off to my right.

They were late.

That scene, the one I'd pretty much painted hours before the Steelers' 17-14 loss to the Patriots in the franchise's 90th home opener, was as predictable as a Trubisky pass after he locks onto each intended target from the break of the huddle. The part where Trubisky would misread and misfire here the way he'd done for years in Chicago. The part where Mike Tomlin would set a summer-long stage, in word and deed, to have him start for as long as possible. The part where Matt Canada couldn't come close to any solutions. The part where the Nation, fairly impatient after a decade of playoff whiffs, would turn on Trubisky at the first chance:

And oh, yeah, there was also the part where Kenny Pickett would present a compelling -- and potentially very real -- immediate alternative. All that poise. All that precision. All that presence.

All of it's at hand, my friends. Already.

I'll be blunt: If it weren't for the short week ahead -- only one full practice before the Thursday night game in Cleveland -- I've have invested this very column in calling for Pickett to take over.

And I'll be further blunt in acknowledging that taking this stance publicly wouldn't have felt rash at all. Because, again, it's all felt so foreseeable for so long.

____________________

Look, I'm not here to bury Trubisky. Super-nice guy. Impossible to root against. If anything, had he resurrected his career after an allegedly transformative year of reinvention as Josh Allen's backup in Buffalo -- the narrative Tomlin and Kevin Colbert put forth upon acquiring him -- it would've been among the most uplifting stories anywhere in the NFL. 

I'm also not here to claim I never wanted to see Trubisky get a shot with the Steelers. I'm on record as having supported his No. 1 status through OTAs, then minicamp, then training camp, then the preseason and right through Cincinnati. It felt like the safest approach, certainly, to open the schedule with a four-year starter who, additionally, carries the pedigree of having been a No. 2 overall draft pick.

But I'm also on record, throughout, as advocating for the shortest of figurative leashes. And that only solidified with Pickett's promising showing in exhibitions and, behind the scenes, the way he conducted himself in practices, in the locker room and so forth.

I don't know if Pickett's ready. No one can know that.

But I've already witnessed, with my own eyes, without bias, without reaching, that he's the best quarterback on the roster.

Not just for the future.

For right freaking now.

From the 2022 perspective, it couldn't be clearer that this season's about to be blown to bits with more of this miserable offense that's totaled two touchdowns over nine full quarters and 24 possessions. And specific to Trubisky, who'd go 21 of 33 for 168 yards in this one, his QB rating of 78.2 ranks 25th among the NFL's 32 starters, and he's got a 59.2% completion rate, an average of 5.1 yards per attempt, an average of 181 yards per game, a whopping 10 pass attempts out of 71 that traveled 20-plus yards in the air, an utter inability/unwillingness to survey the scene, an apparent misinterpretation that the checkdown's the main option, a mindblowing interception into triple-coverage ...

... and, not to be forgotten, an odd tendency to give away sacks like they're Halloween candy. Three of his four have been self-inflicted to the extreme.

And please don't make me show ... don't ... don't ... OK, here I'll show his pass chart, though I'll issue the sternest of warnings for the faint of heart:

Told you. Looks like he's mowing his lawn, afraid to touch even a blade of the neighbors'.

Care to blame all that on Canada?

Hey, go nuts. It's the coordinator's mission to work with the talent at hand, and he was as supportive of Trubisky as anyone all summer. Besides, Trubisky can't always take the simplest checkdown option if it's emphasized in a firmer way that he needs to ... you know, try stuff occasionally. A couple players, including Trubisky himself, took possible swipes at the playcalling after this, but sorry, I’m inclined to see that as defending the vet more than anything legit they believe. They’re out there for those passes, those decisions. They know 

Care to push principal blame on the offensive line, the running game or anything/anyone else directly involved?

Eh. That's where we'd differ.

Get a glimpse of all three of these sequences from Sunday:

Those are on the quarterback. No discussion. No debate.

In order:

1. Brutal throw
2. Brutal throw
3. What the ... ?

That last one's a third-and-8 from the Pittsburgh 13, and what was visible to everyone in the building save for the home team's quarterback was that Diontae Johnson had sprinted all alone behind the New England secondary. Any ball put up his way would've been six points and, in all likelihood, a W.

Instead, Trubisky checked it down. Without even checking down. Just went right to Najee, two whole yards away.

Why?

"Yeah, we're going to have to look at that one," came Trubisky's response when that came up after the game. "That was my hot throw. The corner did a good job having eyes. He came off on it and made the tackle. We've just got to have better answers when they show us that type of look."

I'm not seeing a 'we' in that equation. And more telling, neither was Diontae when he began jumping up and down and waving his arms toward the home sideline.

"Playing with emotion," Diontae would explain later of that display. "I felt like I was open. Obviously, the quarterback has a lot he has to think about, as well. I can't fault him on that."

Nah. Had it right the first time, kid.

____________________

Tomlin had no-hesitation criticisms for certain screw-ups, once prompted by reporters.

Of Ahkello Witherspoon trying to make an interception rather than swatting away what wound up a 44-yard touchdown pass from Mac Jones to Nelson Agholor, Tomlin chided, "Yeah, play the ball above eye level. He's a big guy. Gotta play the ball above eye level."

Of Gunner Olszewski's punt muff that set up New England's other touchdown, Tomlin bit off every syllable of, "We didn't handle the punt. That was a significant play."

But when I brought up Trubisky's shortcomings with three separate questions, each was met with a comparable shrug.

I asked why the offense still can't/won't throw downfield or over the middle, and to what degree the quarterback's culpable, and he answered by praising New England's defense: "They're a group that really specializes in minimizing big plays, splash plays defensively. That's been their calling card. Devin McCourty's been back there in the middle of the field for a long time. So, we knew the game would be challenging from that perspective."  

I then asked what he thought of Trubisky's performance overall: "I have to look at the tape in terms of an evaluation standpoint, but obviously we collectively didn't make enough plays today, him included."

I then asked, trying to swing back to the specific, if Tomlin had expected camp/preseason sensation George Pickens might be more involved in the offense to date: "I don't know that I had expectations about what that would look like. I think in the early portions of the year, man, you're establishing roles, and what happens in the stadium is more important than maybe what your intentions are. Intentions are just that. The reality of how we perform, how we divide the labor up, and how we distribute the ball and who makes the plays is what's important in the stadium."

Uh, OK.

My stance on Pickens is that he's been targeted six whole times through two games, connecting once here for a game-long 23-yarder. And candidly, I'm surprised Trubisky's noticed him that often, considering he seldom even glances in Pickens' direction.

"We've got to get George involved," Trubisky would say on that topic. "He's super talented."

And he'd come forth with several other acknowledgements, maybe best represented by, "We've just got to continue to find our identity. Everybody needs to lean in, come together and, really, I just need to play better to give us a better chance at the end."

Like I said, he's a pro.

Asked if he'd heard those chants for Pickett, he flatly replied, "It is what it is. You just block it out and continue to play football."

But here's the thing: This offense's identity happens to be standing on the sideline. And not, ideally, for a lot longer.

JUSTIN K. ALLER / GETTY

Mitch Trubisky throws toward Acrisure Stadium's south end zone Sunday afternoon.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics

THE INJURIES

The only player hurt in the game was ILB Devin Bush, leaving in the second half with a foot injury and not returning. Tomlin didn't elaborate.

The players who were healthy but inactive: QB Mason Rudolph, LG Kendrick Green, WR Steven Sims, DE Isaiahh Loudermilk, LB Mark Robinson, LB David Anenih.

THE SCHEDULE

Short week. One practice. One bus ride. Keebler Elf on the 50 at the far end. It'll be Steelers vs. Browns, Thursday at 8:20 p.m., in Cleveland.

THE MULTIMEDIA

THE CONTENT

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