One of the best NFL reads of the week is analyst and film guru Ted Nguyen breaking down the best and worst coaching decisions of the previous week for The Athletic. This week, the Pittsburgh Steelers were included among the worst decisions despite taking care of business against the Seattle Seahawks. That’s because QB Mason Rudolph has looked awesome as the team’s starter over the last two weeks, and yet, the Steelers chose to start QB Mitch Trubisky over Rudolph in Weeks 14 and 15. Nguyen panned that decision as one of the worst and questioned how it even happened.
“How did Mitchell Trubisky beat out Rudolph for the backup job? In the seven games that Trubisky [played] last season, he threw four touchdowns to five interceptions and averaged seven yards an attempt. Despite his lack of production, the Steelers chose to sign him through 2025. Predictably, Trubisky was horrid in his two starts this season, throwing for two touchdowns and three interceptions while only averaging 6.2 yards per attempt,” Nguyen wrote.
Trubisky wasn’t super impressive when he started last season for the Steelers, which led to him getting pulled at halftime of Week Four against the New York Jets. He started again in Week 15 after Kenny Pickett missed a start with a concussion, a game Pittsburgh won. But Rudolph was never really given a chance to earn the No. 2 job despite Trubisky’s struggles last season and when he replaced an injured Pickett in mid-game in Week Four and Week Eight this season.
Nguyen said he thinks it’s an “organizational failure” that Rudolph wasn’t given a shot at the No. 2 job.
“In the two games that Rudolph started this season, he’s thrown for two touchdowns, no interceptions, and averaged 11 yards per pass. He’s pushing the ball downfield and looks so much more comfortable in this offense than Trubisky did,” Nguyen wrote. “This might be more of an organizational failure to commit to Trubisky, who didn’t earn it, as their backup rather than open the role to competition.”
Rudolph hadn’t started a game since 2021 prior to a couple of weeks ago, and the Steelers lacked confidence in him to the point where they drafted a first-round quarterback last year and signed Trubisky as a free agent, moves that knocked Rudolph down the depth chart and essentially relegated him to the No. 3 role despite a supposed “open competition” for the quarterback job ahead of 2022.
The good news is that Trubisky at least had somewhat of a short leash this season, getting the plug pulled on him before the end of the Week 15 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. But if Rudolph had started against the Patriots and Colts, there’s a legitimate argument to be made that the Steelers could be a 10- or 11-win team right now. In hindsight, it’s a big mistake that Rudolph simply wasn’t given the opportunity ahead of Trubisky, as Rudolph has frankly looked like the best quarterback on the Steelers roster.
We’ll see if Rudolph can continue his run as he tries to lead the Steelers to the postseason, and a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday would be a major help.
