Tim Benz: If Kenny Pickett is being honest with us, I hope Steelers coaches weren't being honest with him

A dust-up has been swirling around the allegations that Kenny Pickett refused to be a backup quarterback Sunday for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Seattle.

Pickett addressed that storyline Tuesday and denied it.

Something else he said is the bigger story, though.

“There was no talk of me being a backup quarterback this week in terms of being a No. 2,” Pickett said. “If I was healthy enough to play and trainers and coaches felt like I looked good enough to play, I was going to start and play.”

Let’s stop right there.

If Pickett was healthy enough, he was going to start? Really? After what Mason Rudolph had done against the Cincinnati Bengals the previous week?

Rudolph put up 290 yards passing and led the Steelers to a 34-11 win, snapping a three-game losing streak. It was the first time the offense cracked the 30-point barrier all season. It was the first time the franchise broke 30 points in a victory since Nov. 15, 2020. After an eight-game slump with Pickett and Mitch Trubisky behind center, Rudolph got receiver George Pickens involved to the tune of 195 yards and two touchdowns.

Then Rudolph went out and helped engineer a win with a 112 passer rating in Seattle (a place where the Steelers hadn’t won since 1983) with the organization’s playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

Gee, I guess the Steelers coaching staff is lucky Pickett wasn’t “healthy enough to play,” huh?

Someone isn’t being honest. It’s either that or the Steelers coaching staff has lost its collective mind.

One of three things is happening here.

1. Pickett lied Tuesday about how things went down last week, and he was ticked off about the decision to start Rudolph. If that’s the case, then there really is fire behind the smoke about the allegations that he pouted his way out of dressing in Seattle.

2. Pickett was 100% truthful in his address to the media Tuesday, and the coaching staff was — somehow — genuinely ready to bench Rudolph for Pickett after that win over the Bengals.

3. Mike Tomlin and the coaches weren’t being honest with Pickett, they planned to start Rudolph all along last week, and they were just using his healing ankle and lack of practice reps as an excuse to avoid starting him.

If you are a Steelers fan, you better hope it’s that last thing.

Otherwise, your alleged franchise quarterback is a big baby, or the coaching staff has even less of a clue about how to navigate the post-Ben Roethlisberger era at quarterback than we all thought.

Luckily, I actually do think it is the last thing. My guess is Tomlin and the coaches told Pickett — and the public — that the decision about who was going to start Sunday in Seattle came down to Pickett’s health and his practice reps during the week.

More sports

• Penguins can't complete rally vs. Capitals as 3-game winning streak ends
• Cold-shooting Pitt remains winless in ACC after loss to No. 8 North Carolina
• T.J. Watt voted Steelers’ MVP by teammates for record-tying 4th time

Even though they had their minds made up in advance that Rudolph was going to start.

Tomlin and company must’ve understood what Rudolph put on tape against the Bengals and knew their best chance to win in Seattle was starting Rudolph again.

Or, at the very least, it was the most expeditious move, knowing the hellfire they’d catch from the fanbase (and maybe the owner) if they had pulled Rudolph for Pickett in Seattle and lost?

So, of course, just say it’s about practice reps and health instead of a quality-of-play decision.

That’s easiest. Tomlin can keep up the appearance that the 2022 first-round draft choice hasn’t been benched for a guy they let walk into free agency last summer. It casts less doubt about Pickett’s long-term future. It makes the likely scenario of Pickett being the starter in September 2024 more palatable to the masses.

“Kenny wasn’t benched! He was just hurt! Whatever Mason did, Kenny coulda done if he was fully healthy!”

Go on social media. Pickett’s die-hard supporters have been singing that song since the middle of Rudolph’s start against the Bengals.

The problem is that a discrepancy in the storyline was going to present itself at some point in the manner that it has. I wasn’t expecting it to the degree that we saw this week, given the combustible nature of the reports. But any time that health and practice reps are advanced as the major explanation for the starter sitting, then the corollary to that is that the backup (in this case, currently, a successful backup) is only playing by injury circumstance and not choice.

Obviously, that window has shut for the Steelers. This week, Tomlin was left with no choice but to simply name Rudolph the starter for Saturday’s game in Baltimore in advance of the practice week and drop the sideshow about Pickett’s health status being a factor.

Especially if they want to dress their best possible team. That’s the weekly goal, as the head coach has frequently stated. Pickett in uniform as the No. 2 and Mitch Trubisky as the emergency No. 3 is the means to that end behind Rudolph.

Frankly, that could’ve, and should’ve, been done before the Seattle game. And if the Steelers coaches didn’t know that on their own, this team is in bigger trouble when it comes to solving the quarterback problem than we ever knew.

Listen: Joe Rutter and Tim Benz discuss Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph and the Steelers’ playoff chances heading into their regular season finale in Baltimore.