At the highest level of any sport, the competition is always insane. With football, where there’s so many roles and specializations, this holds even more true. There can only be 32 starting quarterbacks, naturally, and even being a 2nd string quarterback is an honor. But if you’ve put in the time and you’ve proved yourself, it can be crushing when it feels like what you’ve earned was stolen away from you. We imagine that’s what Justin Fields, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, is going through right now.

The 25-year-old got a lucky break at the start of the season, when Russell Wilson (now their starting quarterback) was ruled out with a calf injury. After a few very impressive performances followed by a few lackluster ones, head coach Mike Tomlin has now benched him. Tomlin defended his decision to Jay Glazer, “I’m not trying to win games, I’m trying to win a world title.” The coach wants to try out both quarterbacks to see who’s a better fit, and is so confident in his decision that he’s said he’ll stand “Lone Ranger” and accept all responsibility for the consequences,

We don’t know what the consequences will be yet, but there’s already condemnation. Former Jets and Bills coach Rex Ryan tore Tomlin apart. “You’re going to blame it on Fields? You got a chance to have a franchise quarterback here. Russell Wilson, we know, is not the long-term answer for this football team,” he said when asked about the decision.

The Russell Wilson point particularly rings true because the man’s only there on a 1 year contract. This decision both quashes the momentum of young Justin Fields’ development and invests heavily in a short-term asset. But no, Mike Tomlin’s stuck on his “pole position” mindset.

How exactly did Russell Wilson end up with the Steelers?

If you looked up Wilson’s contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers with no other context, you’d be a bit confused. At $1.21 million, Wilson is being paid the lowest amount he’s allowed to accept as a veteran NFL player. It’s not like he doesn’t have the pedigree to justify a higher paycheck being a former Super Bowl champion quarterback. Even though he won that SB with the Seattle Seahawks more than a decade ago, it’s a noteworthy stat.

The only reason Wilson’s with the Steelers is because there’s one thing he wants more than anything else: to play. The Broncos wouldn’t let him, so now here he is. He wants time on the field, and he was willing to go anywhere that would give it to him, and that place happened to be the Steelers. It’s not like he’s in danger of going broke. The Denver Broncos are still paying Wilson $38 million this year.

The Denver team benched him towards the end of last season out of fear of triggering his injury clause, which would keep them from being able to trade him. He’d not been impressing them, and they didn’t want to be burdened with an aging, underperforming, untradeable asset. You can see why they did it, but you can understand Wilson’s reaction too. We have to view his actions through that lens, though it’s unclear what Mike Tomlin’s excuse is.