The Pittsburgh Steelers are serious contenders this season.
Mike Tomlin’s team improved to 10-3 with a comfortable win against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday and sitting top of the AFC North, they have a chance to clinch a playoff berth in Week 15.
The Steelers were fancied by few ahead of the 2024 season, but now look legitimate Super Bowl contenders, and much of their success can be credited to quarterback Russell Wilson.
Pittsburgh began 2024 with the cheapest QB room in the NFL, with Wilson on a veteran minimum deal and Justin Fields on his rookie contract.
While Fields went 4-2 as a starter to open the season, he was replaced by Wilson once the 36-year-old had recovered from a preseason calf injury.
Plenty across the NFL were very skeptical of head coach Tomlin’s decision, but the move has more than paid off.
Wilson is 6-1 as a starter, and according to reports, he could be set to keep his role for the 2025 season.
The Steelers are said to have halted their quest to find a star QB of the future, because their present QB is performing so well.
With Pittsburgh in such good shape, one ESPN pundit has taken the opportunity to offer Wilson an apology for comments he repeatedly made ahead of the season.
Mike Greenberg was one of many who had written off the Super Bowl 48 champion before he’d even thrown a regular-season pass for the Steelers.
But the analyst apologised for his comments on Monday’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up.
“I need to say something because I spent this whole offseason saying Russell Wilson’s career is over, he is done, he is washed, some variation on that theme,” Greenberg began.
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“And I just have to acknowledge that I was dead wrong. Russell Wilson is playing great. I don’t know if he can go toe-to-toe and beat Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in the playoffs. But I know he is playing legitimately well.
“This is not a cute Mike Tomlin well-coached team that is going to sneak into the back of the playoffs. This is a team that is playing great.
“Russell Wilson is playing legitimately excellent football. I, and a lot of people, owe him an apology.”
While it’s not unusual for NFL pundits to offer hot takes and bold predictions, Greenberg’s decision to apologise certainly is.
Of course, he was far from polite about Wilson ahead of the 2024 season.
Not only did he describe the veteran QB as ‘washed’, but Greenberg also suggested that Wilson could frustrate Tomlin so much that he could be benched after just one half of football.
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“I’m not suggesting he’ll do it, but when will he start thinking about it? If I put the over at halftime of Week 1,” Greenberg said back in September.
“I’m telling you that thought is going to go through his head in the second quarter in Atlanta when they go three-and-out for the third consecutive time.”
Wilson didn’t even end up playing in that game due to injury, but he has played plenty of football since returning.
He certainly hasn’t frustrated Tomlin with his performances and instead of being benched, looks set to lead the Steelers to the playoffs.
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