The Steelers are usually good to face at least a few backup quarterbacks per year, and Joe Burrow and J.J. McCarthy’s backups are the first ones up. In Burrow’s case, it’s Jake Browning, and for McCarthy, it’s Carson Wentz. Both quarterbacks suffered injuries in Week 2 that will cause them to miss multiple weeks, Burrow’s the more serious injury.
Over the first two weeks of the season, the Steelers struggled on defense in the passing game, including against their former backup quarterback, Justin Fields. After Week 1, many seemed to question Pittsburgh’s decision to move on from him. Although he fell somewhat back to earth last week, the Steelers fared little better. Rather than ghosts, Sam Darnold saw Jaxon Smith-Njigba winning vertically against Jalen Ramsey.
After the Patriots next week, the Steelers will have what looks like three games against backups quarterbacks in a short span. In Week 4, with McCarthy injured, they will face Wentz. On the other side of the bye, they will play Burrow’s backup quarterback, Browning, twice. The first game is in Week 7, the second in Week 11.
The way it currently sounds, Burrow will require surgery to repair a toe injury, which should result in him missing three months or more. The Steelers have faced backup Jake Browning twice, both in 2023. Browning went 4-3 as a starter that year—but 0-2 against the Steelers.
The Steelers having played Wentz as some time—before he became a backup quarterback. A former first-round pick, he is 1-1 all-time against Pittsburgh. In the third game of his career, he put an absolute whoopin’ on them, 34-3. And then he pretty much devolved into a backup quarterback for most of the rest of this career.
So how have the Steelers fared against backup quarterbacks in the recent past? In 2024, they went 2-2, essentially, splitting two games with Jameis Winston. While they beat Aidan O’Connell, they lost to Joe Flacco, though technically, Flacco did not start that game. In 2023, they defeated the AFC North’s backups, including Browning twice and Tyler Huntley. Except they managed to lose to Dorian Thompson-Robinson, somehow. It’s still hard to process. Although at the time he was the starter for a benched Mac Jones, they also lost to Bailey Zappe that year.
In other words, the Steelers facing a backup quarterback doesn’t exactly guarantee success. Jake Browning led the Bengals to a win this past Sunday after inheriting a deficit, too. The good news, if there is any, is that the Bengals are terrible on the ground this year, so far. The Vikings haven’t been, though they also haven’t run a lot.
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