It’s been a long time since anyone can say this but…
It’s Mason Rudolph’s time.
Appropriately getting the nod two days before Christmas, Rudolph is expected to start Saturday’s Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Though Mike Tomlin didn’t rule out the possibility of QB Kenny Pickett playing — he is expected to practice in some capacity this week — the team’s focus right now shifts to Rudolph.
Mitch Trubisky is out of the picture, relegated to backup, after 2.5 performances that were uninspiring at best, painful at worst. Benched late in Saturday’s loss, he’ll give way to Rudolph this weekend as the light dims on the Steelers’ playoff hopes.
Speaking with reporters Monday, Tomlin explained why he’s making the shift, even if the answers seem obvious.
“He’s a backup, but he’s also a veteran guy,” he said via the team’s YouTube channel. “He’s been in our program a long time. He’s here for those reasons. We’ve got a great deal of comfort with him. Why are we making the change? We don’t like what we’re looking at and the consistency of it. What I mean is we’re not scoring enough points. Particularly as you move into December football man, you gotta score more than 12, 14, 16 points in games this time of year.”
Once drafted with the thought of being Ben Roethlisberger’s eventual heir, Rudolph has spent most of his career holding a clipboard. Aside from a bumpy 2019, thrust into action after Roethlisberger’s season-ending elbow surgery, Rudolph has appeared in just a handful of games. Saturday’s loss to the Colts was only his eighth appearance since 2020, most of those other games mimicking this weekend’s: mop-up duty where he received a handful of snaps late in game. Over the last three seasons, he’s only logged significant time in two games. The 2020 season finale, a game in which Pittsburgh rested key starters, and in 2021, making a last-second start after Roethlisberger was unavailable due to COVID.
For the last two seasons, Rudolph has served as the team’s third-stringer. After Roethlisberger retired following the 2021 campaign, Rudolph went from potential starter to seeing the team sign Trubisky minutes into free agency and draft Pickett with its first-round pick. By the start of 2022, he was in worse position than in 2021.
Hesitant to consider Rudolph due to lack of playing time after Pickett sprained his ankle, the team’s turn to him has as much to do with Trubisky as anything Rudolph-related. Trubisky led the team to only seven points in replacing Pickett midway through the Cardinals’ game, a late-game touchdown that had little impact on the outcome. The Steelers scored 18 against New England, a “good” number for them, but Trubisky’s turnovers hurt the team in a loss.
And he managed only 13 against a Colts defense ranked 29th in points allowed entering the game. Trubisky tossed two interceptions and his accuracy was all over the place, missing wide open receivers, showing poor mechanics and throwing off his back foot. Rudolph finished out the final drive of the game, going 2-of-3 for three yards and a sack.
Tomlin said Trubisky wasn’t to blame for all of the offense’s struggles but noted quarterbacks bear the brunt of responsibility.
“Obviously by nature of the position, the guy that has the ball, the quarterback position, that’s a catalyst for change and, and opportunity. And so we want to give [Rudolph] some snaps from a preparation standpoint, some in-helmet perspective,” Tomlin said. “Not dumping the outcome of the game at Mitch’s feet. I’m not saying that. But I am saying the guy at that position, is at the controls and does have a big say in how some things unfold. And it’s more about really Mason Rudolph being deserving of an opportunity and us trying to change the trajectory of what’s been transpiring.”
Tomlin may try to play things off as wanting to give Rudolph an opportunity. But if Trubisky produced and won even one of these past two games, he would’ve remained the team’s starter. Rudolph is no savior of the season, but this is the right choice by a team running out of stones to turn over.
With Trubisky out of the picture, his future with the team also comes into question. As Dave Bryan wrote about after Pickett injured his ankle, these games became as key for Trubisky as they did to the Steelers’ season. Clearly, he failed that test and owed a sizable salary next season, he could be part of the team’s offseason roster upheaval.
