Russell Wilson is good again, but I might have to gag on the redemption story | Column

As it pertains to recent developments with Russell Wilson, I confess to being wrong in so many ways.

I thought the Steelers were crazy for signing him, figuring he was completely washed up after the Broncos dumped him last spring.

I thought Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was out of his mind to replace Justin Fields with Wilson three games ago, opting for a supposedly finished has-been over a younger player with an unknown ceiling who led Pittsburgh to a 4-2 record. Fields was the future, Wilson was the past, and it didn’t seem as if the present would yield much in the way of positive results.

In his first game this season against the Jets a few weeks ago, Wilson was horrendous early but ended up sparking the Steelers to a comfortable win.

In his second game he was even better, leading the Steelers past the Giants on Monday Night Football.

I continued to think it was more about the opposition than a Wilson resurgence that was responsible for the Steelers’ success.

But then the Steelers beat the Commanders on Sunday, and there’s no getting around it now. Wilson was sensational when it mattered most, throwing a 32-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Mike Williams. He did it while being rushed heavily, off his back foot, firing a perfect rainbow inside the left pylon that Williams caught in stride.

The Steelers beat a 7-2 Commanders team that is far superior to the Jets and Giants, and they did it on the road.

Wilson has officially gone from laughable in Denver to respectable and then some in Pittsburgh, producing one of the most unlikely storylines of the year in the NFL.

Monday morning on ESPN’s studio show, “Get Up,” former NFL coach Rex Ryan called Wilson a Hall of Fame quarterback and said of the Steelers: “To me, they’re for real.”

Then the discussion shifted to the Steelers being legitimate Super Bowl contenders, maybe even better than Baltimore in the AFC North. And record-wise they currently are, at 7-2 a half-game ahead of the 7-3 Ravens. They face each other Sunday, and it wouldn’t surprise many now if Pittsburgh springs the upset, particularly since Baltimore’s pass defense is one of the worst in the league.

How do you feel about this Russell rejuvenation? And how would you feel if he led the Steelers to a Super Bowl championship?

I’d like to say I’m pulling for him, I’m happy for him, rising from the dead to the top of the world. But I’m not, not at all. If I’m being honest, I hope he flames out in the second half of the season.

Why? I appreciated everything about him when he helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl during the 2013 season. He was efficient and dynamic at the same time, not to mention an odds-beater, excelling as a 5-foot-10 third-round pick.

But eventually I got sick of him and thought the Seahawks made a great deal when they traded him to Denver in 2022 for two first-round picks, two second-rounders, a fifth and Drew Lock, Shelby Harris and Noah Fant.

Wilson got caught up in fame more than football. Over and over again, we saw him in cheesy videos, including the all-timer when we saw him in bed with his wife, breathily saying: “Seattle, we got a deal” after the Seahawks signed him to a new contract.

There were more finger-down-the-throat moments along with robotic news conferences when he rarely sounded sincere. Let’s not forget the “Let Russ Cook” short-lived era when Wilson wanted to pass more frequently in Pete Carroll’s run-first offense.

At the time there were those who thought that Carroll was holding him back when he was actually accentuating his strengths. Wilson had a sweet spot of 25 to 30 attempts a game that correlated with a winning record for the Seahawks.

So all of that stuff makes me gag on the thought of a redemption story in Pittsburgh. When someone gets full of himself like he did, I can’t see myself boarding the Wilson Express. I’d rather see the train go off the tracks and fall well short of its destination. Give Russell a bakery full of humble pies.

I suppose that might make me a bad human being. A better person would double down on cliches - forgive and forget and let bygones be bygones - but with Wilson, he became so repulsive in Seattle that it’s hard to root for him now.

Jim Moore has covered Washington’s sports scene from every angle for multiple news outlets. He appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. on Jason Puckett’s podcast at PuckSports.com. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @cougsgo.