The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the winningest franchises in NFL history. Current Head Coach Mike Tomlin took over the team in 2007 and has never had a losing record. Considering the quarterback carousel since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season, that is quite an accomplishment. The team swung and missed with supposed franchise quarterback Kenny Pickett and benched him after an ineffective, injury-plagued half of a 2023 season.
In 2022, the team picked former first-round bust Mitchell Trubisky out of the bargain bin from the Bears with hopes he could be fixed and be a short-term solution until Pickett was ready. As expected, that move didn’t work either. That left Coach Mike Tomlin no other option but former third-round pick from 2018, Mason Rudolph. The former Oklahoma State Cowboy has played sparingly since coming into the league, and the team didn’t view him as any long-term option.At his Tuesday presser, Coach Tomlin said: “At the quarterback position, we’ll stay with Mason Rudolph. Much like in the spirit in which we worked a week ago, we’re just simply staying with the hot hand and not disrupting the apple cart.” Perhaps recognizing that this could be his last playoff run with the Steelers, Tomlin’s insistence on sticking with the hot hand could prove to be very wise.
In 2021, Rudolph talked about his Christian upbringing: “I couldn’t have had a better situation from a Christian-based perspective with two rock-solid parents. My mother was raised a Christian, my dad gave his life to Christ in high school.” Clearly, Rudolph is a prime example of what a traditional, Christ-centered household can do. It is highly unlikely that Rudolph actually uttered that word that got him clocked over the head, but if he did, he seems to have found his way and appears to be extremely thankful and blessed for another chance to play NFL football and maybe win a playoff game for the Steelers.
Featured image credit: By Erik Drost on Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/edrost88/49094097867, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=84196240
