Tim Benz: Kenny Pickett's latest injury shows how rough QB life may get in Pittsburgh

Kenny Pickett’s latest injury — on top of his overall lack of progress this year — is starting to make people wonder if the Steelers got it wrong in their first attempt to replace future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The fact that Pickett is being replaced by Mitch Trubisky is a reminder that they may have actually gotten it wrong twice.

Come to think of it, the fact that Mason Rudolph is going to be the second-stringer Sunday is another reminder that they might already be 0-3.

It might be too soon to label Pickett a bust, but if he’s going to be a late bloomer, he better start blossoming the minute that ankle allows him to start playing again.

Despite Mike Tomlin’s insistence that his surgery isn’t season-ending, Pickett is unlikely to be at full strength for very long before the regular season ends. And, given the club’s horrifying performance against Arizona on Sunday, their playoff hopes are very much in doubt with Trubisky likely to start at least half of the remaining games on the schedule.

That’s not going to give Pickett much time in the post-Matt Canada offense to give himself a boost heading into his third season. That’s a year that’ll probably feature a new full-time coordinator (whether that’s Eddied Faulkner, Mike Sullivan or someone outside the organization). It’s also a season that will end with the franchise needing to make a decision as to whether or not it’ll pick up his fifth-year option — ostensibly a move that’ll determine his long-term fate with the team.

And maybe in the NFL.

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In the meantime, the organization has to turn to Trubisky. Let’s not forget he was “Plan A” after Roethlisberger’s retirement. He was their first target. Their first perceived solution. At least for a few years. He was signed as a free agent well before the team knew that it would definitely be able to draft a quarterback of its liking six weeks later.

Remember all that happy talk about how shrewd of a signing Trubisky was going to be? How the Steelers were going to fix him after those dumb Chicago Bears screwed him up? How he had matured and learned so much backing up Josh Allen in Buffalo. How his movement and athleticism were going to unlock the Canada offense that was hamstrung by Roethlisberger’s lack of mobility in 2021?

I sure do. I doubted it all even before the signing happened, and then again after it happened. I was labeled a hater and a pessimist for doing so.

Two years later, there has been no evidence to support the pie-in-the-sky optimism about Trubisky’s acquisition. In fact, most of those who were on his bandwagon, got off of it and were more than happy to push it off the Fort Duquesne Bridge in favor of Pickett just three-and-a-half games into Trubisky’s Steelers tenure.

“I’m just trying to have a good mindset when I go in to do my job and help the team score,” Trubisky said Tuesday. “I’m a lot more calm when I know I’m starting. I don’t have to worry about when I’m going in. I know I’m starting the game and can control it from there.”

Now, the Steelers’ playoff hopes will largely be under Trubisky’s control. In the past, that has produced a 2-3 record in five starts and a 79 passer rating (63.8% completion, six touchdowns, seven interceptions, 152.5 yards per game) over 10 total games played in Black and Gold.

“I think it will be a similar feel,” Faulkner said of Trubisky stepping in. “I don’t anticipate much is going to change. He’ll go in and operate, and the expectation will be the same for him as it would be for 8 (Pickett).”

Based on how much of a struggle it has been to score in recent years for Pickett, I’m not exactly sure that is a ringing endorsement.

We’ve also got to keep in perspective that Pickett and Trubisky are only here because Rudolph didn’t work out as a potential developmental heir apparent to Roethlisberger. Despite having a “first-round grade” on him from the team in 2018, Rudolph lost his job to Devlin Hodges, was made third string behind Trubisky and Pickett to start last year, and was allowed to wade into the free-agent waters last offseason before eventually rejoining the team in May.

The Steelers were hoping to avoid wandering into the so-called “quarterback desert” post-Big Ben. It’s only been 27 games and 23 months since Roethlisberger hung up his cleats. They may not be fully lost in the dunes yet, but they are already in need of an oasis.

Listen: In Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast, Christopher Price of the Boston Globe joins Tim Benz to preview the Thursday night game between the Steelers and Patriots.