Russell Wilson had a bad ‘working relationship’ with Steelers OC Arthur Smith

The The Pittsburgh Steelers looked like one of the contenders in the AFC for most of the season before falling apart near the end of the year. Mike Tomlin and company could win games with Justin Fields and Russell Wilson at quarterback before the team lost its final five games, including a Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Arthur Smith successfully ran two offensive systems this season, one for Fields and one for Wilson. With Fields in the lineup, the Steelers were able to switch to quarterback play to get a lot of their offensive production, especially in short yardage situations. All of that went out the window with Wilson, but the passing game became more explosive.

Now that the season is over, reports have surfaced that say Wilson and Smith maybe they didn’t have the best working relationship with Steelers to Steelers beat writer Mark Kaboli.

“Reports surfaced during the year that offensive coordinator Arthur Smith preferred Fields over Wilson, but that was never substantiated,” Caboli reported on X, formerly Twitter. “However, despite Wilson and Smith spending countless hours together after a typical workday watching film and publicly joking about it, a team source recently said that Wilson and Smith did not have a very good working relationship but struggled through their differences as best they could. “

Wilson’s first few starts went great for the Steelers, but the passing game got stale and stagnated over time. In their season-ending five-game losing streak, the Steelers consistently failed to move the ball and put points on the board.

What will the Steelers do at quarterback next season?

The The Steelers have a dilemma at quarterback ahead of this offseason. They’ve worked with both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson on cheap, short-term deals, but they’ve clearly hit a ceiling with this approach this season.

It became clear that in order to compete in the powerful AFC, the Steelers needed to improve at the quarterback position. It will be difficult for them to do that in the draft, where they will pick near the end of the first pitch, so it will probably have to happen in free agency.

There will be more veteran options available for Pittsburgh in free agency to bring in for the start of next season. Players like Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers and Sam Darnold will likely be on the open market for the Steelers.

An option like Darnold would be very intriguing for Pittsburgh. A a return to Minnesota is unlikely for him after his poor performance in the final two games of the season, but has also clearly shown he can play at a higher level than both Wilson and Fields at this stage. Adding someone like him to the team next season can raise the ceiling of this Steelers team to the point where it can compete for the AFC North title in 2025.