Those who do what I do root for the story. Not for a team or an athlete, but the story. Anybody in my profession who says otherwise is either a mark, or lying.
Best-case scenario as the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to open their season at Atlanta is:
• Russell Wilson doesn’t start at quarterback. Justin Fields does. That ignites revisiting the cause of Wilson’s calf injury: Wilson idiotically being asked to push a blocking sled as part of a conditioning evaluation at the very beginning of training camp.
• Fields plays great. Rushes for 100-plus yards and a touchdown. Throws for 200-plus yards and another touchdown. Steelers win, but almost give it away because of a Fields turnover. Or two. Or three. Fields shows off his biggest strengths and weaknesses, and in a big way.
• Wilson recovers and is fit to start Week 2 at Denver, the team that ditched him this past offseason and is paying him $39 million to not play for them. Does Mike Tomlin stick with Fields after a winning effort? Does Tomlin bench a healthy Wilson and deprive a respected veteran a chance to get revenge against the team and coach (Sean Payton) that spurned him? Or does Tomlin start Wilson because Wilson was QB1 in the first place? (There’s a hidden option: Wilson is OK, but Tomlin says Wilson isn’t and starts Fields.)
• Wilson starts at Denver, plays poorly and loses. This creates a raging quarterback controversy that would last the entire season.
• Something causes George Pickens to flip out. (That’s a matter of when, not if.)
At this point, the columns and radio shows do themselves for an extended period.
