Steelers HC Mike Tomlin puts Justin Fields' feet to the fire for the first time all season

"We're in a little bit different place as I stand here today with Russ this week, than we have been in recent weeks," Coach Tomlin said on Tuesday. "Just met with him [Russ] and the training staff in preparation for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the first Wednesday that he'll be a scheduled full participant. We'll see what that leads us first. We'll see if he's able to, obviously, pull it off and get through the through the session. And if he does, what is the quality of that work look like? His ability to protect himself, etc, some of the conversations that we've been having, but just been having more in a hypothetical way, he's at the port of health now, where we can work on a Wednesday without restrictions. And so he'll get reps with the second unit as to not disrupt Justin's [Fields] preparation, and then we'll see where all of that leads us as we push through the week."

It's clear that the Steelers are still preparing for Fields to be the starter, but Coach Tomlin notes that the "door is ajar" in terms of Wilson starting. The phrasing comes after back-to-back losses for the Steelers against the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. 

For Fields, his nearly 70% competition percentage and 5-1 TD to INT ratio has been impressive but the game-to-game consistency has been up and down and we know that Coach Tomlin has wanted Russell Wilson to be his starter for months. 

Now may be the time that finally happens.