Mark Madden: Given Steelers' QB options, Mason Rudolph would look pretty good in Black and Gold

It’s easy to suggest the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation will work out.

But do you see any sign of that?

The quarterback “battle” that got invented by the national media seems to be morphing into reality. Not talked into existence, but maybe born of Russell Wilson’s early-training camp calf injury and ignited by the poor performances of both Wilson and Justin Fields.

Who’d have thought ESPN’s yell-and-mug set would turn out to be visionaries? (This time.)

Wilson still holds “pole position,” as Mike Tomlin said and Oppenheimer parroted. Applying a racing term to the QB room seems prophetic. Up soon: “Crash and burn.”

Fields has better legs than Wilson but, like Wilson, gets sacked too often. Fields is Lamar Jackson Lite. Very lite. Non-alcoholic and left open till it’s gone flat. No kick.

Wilson looks past his prime. You can cherry-pick stats and moments that argue otherwise, but that’s reality. Wilson is 35 and close to washed up. Pretty near if not plumb.

Fields is 25 and athletic, but that’s all he is. He doesn’t know how to play quarterback. He won’t suddenly learn. He’s a turnover machine and, like Wilson, holds onto the ball too long.

Who will be the Steelers’ quarterback?

Maybe it should be Mason Rudolph.

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It can’t be. But perhaps the Steelers should have kept Rudolph.

The quarterback situation is another chapter in the Steelers’ recent history of haphazard management.

The end of last season saw Rudolph get his first meaningful opportunity since he started eight games in 2019, his second year with the team.

Rudolph started the final three games, won all of them, got the Steelers in the playoffs, posted a passer rating of 118, completed 74.3% of his throws and gave the team its best stretch of quarterback play since Ben Roethlisberger retired.

Added bonus: Rudolph’s success got Kenny Pickett’s knickers in a twist, knocking over dominoes that led to Pickett mercifully running himself out of town.

Sure, Rudolph lost the playoff game to Buffalo. But the Steelers were lucky to make the postseason, doing so largely because of Rudolph.

Rudolph’s reward was a one-way ticket to Palookaville. Well, Tennessee. Where he’ll be the backup.

At the very least, the Steelers should have re-signed Rudolph and let him compete for the starting quarterback job with whoever. With Fields, if the Steelers had got Fields earlier than they did. (Though Rudolph would have been dumb to trust the Steelers.)

Ditching Rudolph after he played well was stupid.

Rudolph was playing for his career at the end of last campaign, and to get the Steelers in the playoffs. A lot was on the line. Every game was must-win, and Rudolph came through.

Wilson and Fields couldn’t produce in Saturday’s exhibition loss to Buffalo. Sure, it’s only preseason, but there’s also no pressure. Not like Rudolph faced last season.

Rudolph would have been comfortable with the personnel. Like everybody else, he would have needed to adapt to the incalculable genius of the new offensive coordinator.

Totally remaking your quarterback room by getting a 35-year-old who is past his prime and a 25-year-old first-round bust makes little sense, especially when both are on expiring contracts.

Who’s going to play quarterback in 2025? It’s football’s most important position, and there’s no semblance of a plan.

But don’t worry: The hypocycloid is never wrong.

Unless it is. At what point is the Steelers organization called out for its mismanagement?

Tomlin will never get fired. That removes accountability from his decision-making process.

Wilson will start Week 1. Fields will be the starting quarterback before long, however.

Neither will play as well as Rudolph did in those final three games last season.