The buck stopped at Mike Tomlin on the decision to start Russell Wilson over Justin Fields in Sunday night's game against the New York Jets.
The decision split Steelers Nation even more so seemingly than the current presidential election.
But the thing is, Tomlin had seen plenty of Wilson in the offseason and training camp, when he was taking the majority of the first-team snaps. And despite the team's 4-2 start to the season, the one thing that had been missing from the offense were chunk plays.
Justin Fields had plenty of success as the team's starter over the first six games. But for all of that, while there had been some chunk plays, they had come somewhat sporadically, as the team had 13 passing plays of 25 or more yards in its first six games, but just two over the past two games.
In Sunday night's 37-15 win over the Jets, the Steelers had four passing plays of 25 or more yards and five of 20 or more yards, as Wilson threw for 264 yards on just 16 completions and Steelers receivers averaged a very healthy 16.5 yards per catch.
"The deep ball is beautiful," said tight end Pat Freiermuth, who caught one of those deep passes, a 30-yard completion. "We saw that throughout camp. It was cool to see that in-stadium tonight with him out there running around with us. His confidence was great."
George Pickens was the main beneficiary of Wilson's deft touch on the deep passes, hauling in five receptions for 111 yards, including gains of 37 and 44 yards.
"They played a lot of man-on-man situations," said Pickens of the Jets. "You know when you get those situations, you've got to most definitely capitalize."
That hadn't been happening as frequently as the Steelers might have liked in recent weeks.
But Wilson's veteran presence was apparent once he knocked some of the rust off after not having played since seeing one series in the team's preseason finale at the end of August.
"We know what Russ can bring to the table," Freiermuth said. "It was his first time playing since last year other than a preseason game. It was good to see him play through some adversity and get back on track."
Again, it's not that Fields was bad. He produced 10 total touchdowns in his six starts. The Steelers scored what was a season-high 32 points in a win over the Raiders last week.
But as Tomlin said at his press conference earlier in the week, the Steelers have been good. They are striving to be great.
Not only did the Steelers score more than 30 points in back-to-back games for the first time since scoring 34 and 30 in Weeks 16 and 17 last season in wins over the Bengals and Seahawks, they scored 31 unanswered points in this game, turning a 15-6 deficit right before halftime on its head.
The Steelers had four possessions in the second half of this game. They scored 24 points in those four possessions.
Wilson started slow, to be sure, completing just two of his first eight passes. But once he heated up, it was bombs away.
"I kept telling Coach, 'hey, I'm going to get hot here," said Wilson. "And sure enough we did. The guys did a tremendous job up front giving me enough time to make throws. Guys made plays down the field."
And as the deep passing game loosened the Jets up, it opened lanes for the running game by backing the Jets off the line of scrimmage. The Steelers produced 108 of their 49 rushing yards in this game on 23 second-half carries.
"I remember a couple years, sometimes we're just good at one thing maybe and being one-dimensional," said Harris, who now has posted back-to-back 100-yard rushing games. "I think now we're multidimensional, it's hard for teams to figure out what to focus on and that's how you win games, I feel like. To have a balanced run and a balanced pass, I think that's how you go far in the playoffs too."
And going far in the playoffs was the idea when the Steelers brought Wilson in this offseason.
That doesn't mean what Fields did over the first six weeks of the season is an afterthought. It was noticed and noteworthy.
But the Steelers were averaging just over 160 yards passing in their first six games. They had 168 yards on just their five passing plays of 20 or more yards in this game.
Wilson brought the chunk plays back into this offense like it hasn't seen since Ben Roethlisberger was slinging the ball around in his prime.
"I thought he was excellent," said Tomlin. "I thought he got better as the game went on. But I'm not surprised by that. It's been a while since he played some ball, but I thought he settled in, knocked the rust off and distributed the ball around and played well."
• How different was the offense in this game?
In their first six games, the Steelers averaged 4.1, 4.3, 5.3, 5.9, 4.0 and 4.7 yards per play, putting them at a less-than-stellar 4.8 yards per play for the season.
Sunday night against the Jets, they averaged 6.3 yards per play.
And that was against a New York defense that entered this game allowing 4.8 yards per play.
"It was a ton of fun just going out there," said guard Mason McCormick. "We have full confidence in ourselves. We just need to put stuff together, and we have. We did tonight."
Certainly the Jets missing two of their top three cornerbacks made a difference. But not to that degree.
They still had their top cover man, Sauce Gardner, out there.
It didn't matter.
"We caught a groove," said Wilson. "We believed in it and we just -- the line was giving me enough time to make all those throws and just, you've got play-makers like we have, anything is possible. There's still more out there too. We'll make sure that we get better as we go."
• The defense also played a major part in this game.
Beanie Bishop's first career interception came at an opportune time, as the Jets had the ball up 15-6 with just over one minute remaining in the first half.
Having won the opening toss and deferred, the Jets also would get the ball to open the second half. So, even allowing a field goal in that situation could have been devastating.
Instead, Bishop set the Steelers up at midfield, and Wilson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Pickens to cut the lead to 15-13 at the half.
"I think it was everyone executing, even early in the game, even when we weren't staying out there, and then we got the interception and breathed some life into it," said Freiermuth. "Credit to him and credit to the offense for capitalizing on the situation."
From there, the defense did largely what it's done all season. It shut the door. The Jets had five possessions in the second half that resulted in seven first downs and no points. The Steelers entered this game, allowing just 5.1 points per game in the second half of games. They did nothing to hurt that in this one.
It was a team win.
"It was just that, a team. Defense, offense, special teams, all we care about is winning," said defensive tackle Cam Heyward. "This is the first performance I feel like that we've had a solid performance all the way through. This game, you humble somebody or you get humbled. Let's build on it and see where we can go from here."
• The Steelers blocked another kick, this one a field goal in the third quarter by backup defensive lineman Dean Lowry.
Thing is, they could have had more.
Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked a PAT in the first half that was nullified because he was penalized for leverage. But replay showed he hadn't used a defender to vault over the pile to get to the Greg Zuerlein kick. The blocker went to the ground and Fitzpatrick simply pushed him aside as he went by him.
Noted kick blocker Miles Killebrew also just missed blocking a punt in the first half, as well.
The Steelers' special teams have now blocked a kick in three consecutive games. Given how good kickers are in today's game, that's just rare.
Credit to special teams coordinator Danny Smith for creating those opportunities and the players for making them count.
"We've got a block culture here that we embrace, and we embrace it with our work during the course of the week," said Tomlin. "We've got a lot of guys that put a lot of effort into the techniques that's required to deliver and so I'm just appreciative of that. It's pretty awesome. It is significant, and it has been. I'm appreciative."
• With Ryan McCollum stepping in at center in place of injured Zach Frazier, the Steelers started their fifth different offensive line combination in seven games.
And they're 5-2.
That's not the way things are supposed to work.
But McCollum played well, especially when you consider he's a guy that has been cut and resigned by the Steelers 11 times, bouncing back-and-forth from their active roster and the practice squad over his three years here.
"It's just the guys we have in that room," said McCollum. "It's how they've built the roster. It's just the culture we have. Mike (Tomlin) instills that in everybody. When your number is called, you've got to play ball."
• Breece Hall hurt the Steelers catching the ball, hauling in six short passes and turning them into 103 receiving yards.
But as a runner he had 12 carries for 38 yards. And that included a 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for New York's first points.
The Jets rushed for 54 yards on 15 carries, but 12 of that came on their final play of the game after the Steelers had scored to make it 37-15. The game was over at that point.
"Early on, we were getting a lot of rhythm passes and then the run," said Heyward. "We had to take one of them away. Taking away the run early, I think in the second half, they might have had a couple of 10-yard runs. But I thought for the most part, they went away from it because we were having a lot of success."
New York ran the ball just six times in the second half, having Rodgers attempt 39 total passes.
And as Heyward said, he was getting the ball out quickly to offset the Steelers' pass rush. So the defensive linemen started getting their hands up. Nose tackle Keeanu Benton deflected two passes, including one on fourth down, while T.J. Watt also got his hand on one.
It affected how Rodgers threw the ball.
"I felt like on one of the interceptions, he kind of hitched it a little bit because we had been getting our hands up," Heyward said. "He threw it a little high."
• Expecting 37 points each week might be a little much to ask. But there's no reason the Steelers' offense can't be efficient on a consistent basis as it was in this game.
Yes, an additional pass catcher would be a nice addition. But, for example, Darnell Washington had four receptions for 36 yards in this game. Van Jefferson caught two passes for 15 yards, but one was a 4-yard touchdown pass. And Calvin Austin had a 36-yard reception.
There's enough here that this can be a dangerous offense overall.
"The thing is that I feel like we have this young offense, young players that are so talented and we're right on that edge of getting really good and being great and we've got to keep searching for that edge," Wilson said.
• Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here: Apple Podcast | iHeart Podcast
• One of the things those who wanted Fields to continue starting over Wilson used to support their argument was that Fields would do a better job working behind what is currently somewhat of a makeshift offensive line.
Now, Wilson was pressured, especially early in the game. But the Jets finished with five quarterback hits and one sack.
Wilson showed he's still more than mobile to escape a pass rush. He might not run for 40 or 50 yards at this point in his career, but he's no statue in the pocket, either.
Having Jaylen Warren back and healthy to help supplement Harris helps, as well. Warren had 44 rushing yards in this game and did his usual stand-up job as a pass protector on third downs.
There's plenty enough rushing from those two running backs – with Cordarrelle Patterson waiting in the wings – for this offense to continue running the ball well.
"This is the ultimate team sport," said Harris. If I'm going down there and I'm getting beat up and Jaylen comes in and he pops off a big run, he's eating. That's big props to him, you know what I mean?"
• The Steelers came into this game having allowed the fewest yards in the league to opposing offensive players after contact. They're a good tackling team overall.
Hall certainly hurt that a bit. His six receptions probably traveled a total of about 20 air yards and he wound up with 103 receiving yards overall.
But sometimes you also have to credit the opponent with being good. And Hall might be the most slippery runner in the NFL when he gets the ball in space.
Don't kill the defense too badly for that performance.
• You can credit the defense, however, for making Rodgers' newest toy, Davante Adams, largely an afterthought.
In fact, between Adams and Garrett Wilson, who entered this game with 41 receptions, the second-most in the NFL, they combined for eight catches on 18 targets for 91 yards. Adams had three catches for 30 yards on nine targets.
That's good work from the cornerbacks. And with Donte Jackson on the sideline in the second quarter because of a shoulder injury, James Pierre stepped in and was up to the task.
"They have really good players, Wilson, Davante Adams, they're a really good receiving corps," Pierre said. "Just being in the NFL, you've got to be ready. You've got to have the mindset that you're playing. Coach said get in and do the same thing the other guys have done. It's just about being ready."
• One extra thought on this one. With the 1974 Super Bowl team being honored at this game for the 50th anniversary of that victory over the Vikings, things were a little more amped up than usual.
The crowd was electric. And the players saw those heroes who had set the table for everything that has followed and they responded to it.
"I always respect it. I got a chance to talk to Joe (Greene), everybody actually, Mel (Blount), Donnie (Shell)," said Heyward. "They're so appreciative of us. They're open. You've got to rise to the occasion. When you wear that patch on the jersey, you don't just want it to be commemorative. You've got to honor those guys, and hopefully, our play reflects that."
