PITTSBURGH — The Steelers technically do have something on the line Sunday when they play the Browns, as they can still get the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs. In normal years, that spot comes with a first-round bye and the promise of a home game with a rowdy and hostile home crowd.
This season, however, it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Only the No. 1 seed, which was clinched by Kansas City, gets a first-round bye, and crowds at games are either non-existent or not significant thanks to COVID-19 restrictions in place in most states.
Mike Tomlin is absolutely correct to give some key players the week off. He said all the right things about the Steelers being "in the business of winning" but that concept has some limitations in this case. The players who are on the field will play to win, but Tomlin understands that winning in the playoffs at this point is all that matters.
And a healthy, rested team on the road is in much better position to win in the playoffs than a beat up one at home in an empty stadium. That's why Tomlin will rest the Steelers' most important player, Ben Roethlisberger, and instead hand the ball to backup Mason Rudolph.
"Ben will not be playing this week," Tomlin said at his weekly news conference. "We will turn toward Mason Rudolph and our young quarterback positional group."
Rudolph will get the start and Josh Dobbs will serve as his backup, and it wouldn't be shocking if Dobbs got some opportunities, as well. Tomlin made it very clear that even though Roethlisberger and some others won't play, this isn't going to be treated like a preseason game. The Steelers will game plan and go to Cleveland with the intentions of winning the game,
"Make no mistake," Tomlin said, "this does not change our intentions going to Cleveland this weekend."
Winning is the bottom line in the NFL, but the most important thing about Sunday's game will be Rudolph. This is his best (and maybe last) opportunity to show that the Steelers can believe in him as Roethlisberger's successor. Rudolph needs to perform well and show some of what he did last season in his final game (before he got injured) against the Jets.
The Steelers' playoff fortunes are the most pressing and important focus for now, but just beyond that, the priority has to be the quarterback position. Maybe Roethlisberger has three or four more years in him, or maybe he plays next year, the final year of his contract, and calls it a career. And if he does that, as it looks right now, the Steelers are not in a great position for a quarterback succession plan ... unless Rudolph shows he can be that guy.
It isn't completely fair to determine Rudolph's future based on one game, especially since it is his first real game action since last December. (He played a few plays this season but for the most part has sat and watched Roethlisberger.) But Rudolph's overall body of work is extremely incomplete.
He was 5-3 as a starter last season, completed 62% of his passes and threw 13 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. But he struggled to keep his job and actually lost it for a few weeks to Devlin Hodges. He also had some injuries that slowed his season — and, of course, the incident, which fittingly took place on the same field he will play on Sunday.
The incident of course came in November during the Browns' 21-7 thumping of the Steelers. Rudolph threw four interceptions in the game, and worse, he and Browns defensive end Myles Garrett got into a fight in the final minutes. Garrett ripped off Rudolph's helmet and hit him on the head with it before being wrestled down by some Steelers linemen. Garrett was suspended for the duration of the season and then claimed the reason he went nuts was because Rudolph called him a racial slur.
The NFL did a thorough investigation and could not verify Garrett's claims, and Rudolph vehemently denied it. Garrett has doubled down several times since then when he was asked if he wanted to clarify or change his comments.
Rudolph has a chance to get the ultimate revenge Sunday because a Steelers win would likely eliminate the Browns from the playoffs. That can't be the redemption he is looking for, though, as he needs to focus on playing well. Rudolph needs this game, a lot more than the Steelers do, because Rudolph needs to prove he can be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
If he plays well and shows the kind of poise and execution that a team needs from a starting quarterback, it might give the Steelers some comfort in staying with him for another season or two as they wait to see what Roethlisberger does. If he is terrible or has that deer in a headlights look we have seen from him from time to time, it will definitely be a signal to the Steelers that they need to come up with a Plan B to succeed Roethlisberger.
Rudolph has talent, he has a good arm and he has a high football IQ. He now, in his third season, needs to prove he can pull that together and play quarterback at a reasonably high level.
