Steelers coach Mike Tomlin to 'exercise appropriate patience' with QB Mitch Trubisky

Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky was among the many people who heard chants from unhappy fans at Acrisure Stadium calling for rookie signal-caller Kenny Pickett to enter what became a 17-14 loss to the New England Patriots that dropped the Steelers to 1-1 on the young season. 

Per Brooke Pryor of ESPN, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Monday he did not hear the chants of Pickett's name. Tomlin also offered zero indication he is even flirting with making a lineup change ahead of the upcoming "Thursday Night Football" showdown at the 1-1 Cleveland Browns.

"I'm going to exercise appropriate patience and continue to teach and ask the guys to continue to learn in an effort to continue to push this train down the track and get better," Tomlin explained when asked about the team's offensive playcalling. "I think that if anyone is sitting here on Monday in Week 2 of this thing feeling happy, they're probably wrong or misinformed."

According to ESPN stats, Trubisky began Monday 28th among eligible quarterbacks with a 76.1 passer rating, 24th with a 38.6 total QBR and 32nd out of 33 players with an average of 5.1 yards per pass attempt. Tomlin admitted Trubisky could be more aggressive as it pertains to airing it out but didn't put the blame only on the 28-year-old. 

"We haven't scored enough points here last couple of weeks, but that's a collective, not just the quarterback position, not just the players," Tomlin said of the season's first two games. "It's all of us are responsible for ringing up the scoreboard. We don't seek comfort. We don't try to quell the noise, to be quite honest with you. We don't care about the noise. We're just working on the things that are within our control to have good days to continue the progression of this group from a developmental standpoint, knowing that the outcome is going to be what we desire."

Pittsburgh opened the campaign with a 23-20 overtime win at the division-rival Cincinnati Bengals, but any lingering luster from that result disappeared on Sunday afternoon. If Trubisky underwhelms in Cleveland on Thursday, Tomlin theoretically could consider using the extra days of preparation to get Pickett ready to start the Week 4 home contest versus the New York Jets (1-1) on Oct. 2.