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Five plays. 60 yards. Two minutes and 13 seconds.

After failing to score any points in the first two preseason games, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-team offense had just enough to march down the field and reach the end zone during Saturday’s 24-17 loss to the Lions in Detroit.

Yes, it’s just a preseason game. Yes, the Lions kept nearly all of their defensive starters out. Still, a quick attack capped by a 31-yard scamper by Cordarrelle Patterson should ease at least some of the concerns around the offense.

More importantly, those two minutes and 13 seconds may have hinted at which quarterback will play for the Steelers in Week 1 in Atlanta.

Theoretically, the third and final preseason game provided Russell Wilson and Justin Fields with an opportunity to make their closing arguments in this so-called quarterback competition. Wilson completed both of his passes, including a 32-yard completion to George Pickens on third-and-11 that set up Patterson’s touchdown.

“We knew we were capable of doing this,” Wilson said after the game. “We had a really great training camp and OTAs and all that. We finally got it out on the field under the lights.”

Meanwhile, in his three series, Fields himself led a touchdown drive, completing 3 of 4 passes for 40 yards and adding 4 rushing yards on two carries.

But forget how they played, because how much they played says a lot about the state of this competition.

That two-minute, 13-second drive? Yeah, that was the last one for Wilson.

Coach Mike Tomlin said before the game that he planned to play the starters only long enough to let them shake off the rust, adding that he would soon move on to backup players competing for roster spots. Tomlin decided to take Wilson out after one series, indicating he has seen enough — and Wilson is his quarterback.

“We just wanted results that reflected how we executed. They were able to put a scoring drive together, and really provide an opportunity to get Justin out there as early as possible,” Tomlin said after the game. “So we did that.”

Tomlin said he would name a starter after the upcoming week of practice.

In many ways, Wilson starting Week 1 was the inevitable conclusion when the Steelers rebuilt their QB room this offseason. Though Tomlin has said throughout camp that it’s a true competition, to some extent that might just be his nature. He loves competition and intentionally creates scenarios to test players physically and mentally, whether it’s matching a linebacker against a particular back in drills or how he’s crafting his quarterback dynamic. In his words, it wouldn’t be like Tomlin to “anoint” someone.

However, from the moment Wilson signed with the Steelers, he always had insider information. Consider that Kenny Pickett asked for a trade because of the way the team expressed the QB dynamic after Wilson was signed. Consider that Wilson took the majority of the first-team reps in OTAs and again in training camp after recovering from his calf injury. Consider that the Steelers have talked at length about the leadership Wilson provides. They have discussed how Fields could benefit from learning from Wilson. They gave Wilson “pole position.” And even after missing a significant portion of training camp, Wilson was still listed as QB1 on the depth chart, a position he maintained throughout.

Even though they were prepared for Fields to surprise them, would they be saying or doing these things if they didn’t expect Wilson to be the starter?

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