There were several points in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 19-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals where it felt like head coach Mike Tomlin was turning to quarterback Justin Fields to add some spark to the Steelers’ offense. It never happened and despite the close result, the offense had little to do with it.

After the game, Tomlin was asked if he would ever consider using Fields to help boost the offense. Tomlin immediately dismissed that idea.

“Our mistakes were collective,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin essentially implied that the group failed on the field and they would go down with the ship. Not a good reason not to make a move, but Tomlin’s hubris towards his team seems to know no bounds.

Fields went 4-2 as the Steelers’ starter to start the season, but was subbed out in favor of Russell Wilson once he was healthy. The move initially looked brilliant, but over the last month Wilson has struggled, leading to this four-game losing streak. Tomlin used Fields sparingly after benching him as a runner, and it was always successful, but Tomlin completely distanced himself from it in this stretch.

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This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Mike Tomlin never considered playing Justin Fields against Bengals