Four Downs: Numbers suggest Mitch Trubisky’s a winner, but most Steelers QBs have been

1. Mitch better win

We’ll see how long a leash Mitch Trubisky has if he doesn’t win quickly as the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. However long Trubisky’s tenure is, if doesn’t end it a winning record or very close to it, he finish with the worst winning percentage by a Steelers starter in four decades.

On Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, Trubisky will become the 20th starting quarterback the Steelers have employed over the past 40 years. Of the first 19, the only QB to be as many as even two games under .500 as a starter was the unforgettable Scott Campbell. He went 0-2 in his two starts in 1985.

Five others since 1982 were one game under .500 as a Steelers starter: Bubby Brister (28-29), Tommy Maddox (15-16-1), Todd Blackledge (2-3), Kent Graham (2-3) and Byron Leftwich (0-1). Each of the other 13 Steelers starting QBs over the past 40 years had winning records — led, of course, by Ben Roethlisberger’s .671 (165-81-1).

Trubisky becomes the 12th quarterback to start a game for the Steelers since the turn of the century. In chronological order: Graham, Kordell Stewart, Maddox, Roethlisberger, Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon, Leftwich, Mike Vick, Landry Jones, Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges.

For Mitch Trubisky, his start Sunday in the season opener at Cincinnati will be his first since his final season with the Chicago Bears, when they lost a wild-card playoff matchup against the New Orleans Saints ... in January 2021. https://t.co/Rq1zaVODub

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) September 8, 2022

2. Mitch has won

Trubisky comes to the Steelers with a reputation of a journeyman quarterback. But would you believe Trubisky also has a statistic suggesting he’s one of the NFL’s winningest quarterbacks?

CBS Sports compiled winning percentage of all starting quarterbacks over the past four seasons. Only four rank ahead of Trubisky, and they are league MVP winners.

At 25-13 as a starter the past four seasons (all from 2018-2020 with the Chicago Bears), Trubisky’s .658 winning percentage trails Patrick Mahomes (.790 winning percentage since 2018), Lamar Jackson (.755), Tom Brady (.723) and Aaron Rodgers (.711). Rodgers won the past two MVPs, Jackson was the 2019 season’s MVP, Mahomes the year before that and Brady claimed his third MVP in 2017.

Mitch Trubisky calls being voted a team captain “a tremendous honor” pic.twitter.com/dzka2JpE2Y

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) September 5, 2022

3. Say Watt?

As a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year finalist and reigning recipient of the award, T.J. Watt is building himself a Hall of Fame resume. But adding another big year in regards to sacks will elevate Watt into territory that’s almost unprecedented — at least since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.

Watt has 72 career sacks in 77 games and has had 13, 14½, a league-leading 15 and an NFL record-tying 22½ sacks, respectively, in the past four seasons. The league compiled some superlatives Watt can achieve in 2022: Watt can become the first player to lead the league in sacks in three different seasons, and with nine sacks he would be second to Reggie White for the most sacks by a player in his first six seasons. Thirteen sacks would make Watt the first player with at least that many in five consecutive seasons, and 15 sacks would enable Watt to join White (1986-88) as the only players to have that many in three consecutive seasons.

A 20-sack season would make Watt the first player to have 20 sacks in consecutive seasons.

.@TimBenzPGH: How Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt thinks he can improve upon an award-winning season in 2022 https://t.co/2bH11sW97B

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) September 10, 2022

4. Tomlin’s tenure

Sunday’s game opens Mike Tomlin’s 16th season as coach of the Steelers. That allows him to pass Bill Cowher as the franchise’s second-longest tenured coach behind Chuck Noll (23 seasons).

Among all professional Pittsburgh franchises, Tomlin’s 16 seasons tie him with Fred Clarke for second behind Noll. Clarke was a player/manager for the Pirates from 1900-15. Tomlin is 154-85-2 during the regular season. Cowher was 149-90-1 from 1992-2006, and Noll was 193-148-1 from 1969-91.

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