Mike Tomlin dances around report of Mitch Trubisky-Diontae Johnson fight

Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, word surfaced Monday that there was a halftime altercation between Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky and wide receiver Diontae Johnson during their Week 4 game against the New York Jets. That shouting match was reportedly the driving force behind the Steelers benching Trubisky in favor of rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett.

On Tuesday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked about the reported incident and refused to confirm or deny that it took place. He still had a lot to say on whether or not it was true.

"If it were, do you think I would share it with you in this environment? Probably not," Tomlin said at a news conference. "Our business is our business, and I understand in today's climate there's leaks with our business getting the street. But I'm not going to acknowledge it or confirm it or deny it in these settings. I'm just not. I ain't got enough hours of my day for it. 

"The things that happen among competitors from time to time is normal business. Everyone wants to win. If it transpired, it's good. It probably means there's a couple guys that wanted to win. If it didn't transpire, it probably means that it should have because we are aggressively pursuing victory. Sometimes that is emotional." 

That is probably the expected sort of response from a head coach in that situation. It is also worth pointing out that over a 17-game NFL season, in a highly stressful and competitive environment, even the best teams are going to have shouting matches and disagreements and sometimes even physical altercations. It happens.

It also seems to be a stretch that it would be the cause of Tomlin benching Trubisky. Performance is a far more likely reason.

Trubisky did get an opportunity to play in the second half of Sunday's 20-18 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Pickett exited the game with a concussion. Trubisky played well, engineering a touchdown drive and a game-ending drive that successfully ran out the clock.

Despite that strong play, Tomlin confirmed on Tuesday that if Pickett is cleared to play he is going to start Sunday night against the Miami Dolphins. Tomlin said the team is done changing quarterbacks and wants the team to know which player teammates have to rally around. That pretty much confirms that the starting quarterback job now belongs to Pickett.