PITTSBURGH (AP) — Justin Fields threw for a touchdown, ran for another, and the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 20-10 on Sunday. With that, they remain undefeated this season after three games and emerge as one of the surprises of the early NFL season.
Fields, who completed 25 out of 32 passes for 245 yards, including a 55-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Austin III, had another efficient performance. The Ohio State quarterback also added a 5-yard touchdown run and quietly emerges as the starting quarterback even after Russell Wilson's injured calf heals. Fields has played almost error-free in three games, although he threw his first interception of the season in the third quarter.
Najee Harris ran for 70 yards, Chris Boswell kicked a pair of field goals, and the Pittsburgh defense accumulated five sacks to hand the Chargers (2-1) their first loss.
Justin Herbert started with a pain in his right ankle and completed 12 of 18 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown before aggravating the injury in an ankle in the middle of the third quarter. He was replaced by Taylor Heinicke.
Herbert left the stadium with a boot on his right foot but he showed confidence in being able to play against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Who will be the starting QB in Pittsburgh now?
The situation with the quarterbacks in the Steelers is very special. First, they signed Russell Wilson, who did very poorly in Denver, a team that still has to cover $39 million of his salary this season, while Pittsburgh will only pay the veteran $1.2 million.
After that, they signed with Justin Fields, who was released from the Chicago Bears in order to select Caleb Williams in the Draft.
Fields became a starter due to Wilson’s injury and it seems that he will keep the job for now, triggering a heated debate in Chicago as rookie Williams has performed very poorly in three games and this Sunday the Bears lost to the Colts (they are 1-2 in the season).