If you go to Ourlads.com, you’ll notice that Mason Rudolph is listed as number one on the Steelers quarterback depth chart. If you click on ESPN.com, you’ll see the same thing.

As the team prepares for a huge wildcard playoff game against the Bills this Sunday at Highmark Stadium, there is no question who the starting quarterback is.

But if you visit the depth chart portion of the Steelers official team page–Steelers.com–you’ll see that Kenny Pickett, the man who hasn’t started a game since December 3 and won’t this Sunday against the Bills, is listed as number one.

Why?

I guess because the Steelers wanted to give folks like me something to talk about in this day and age of 24/7 content and hot takes. Either that, or they’re just plain stupid.

Since I’m pretty sure Mike Tomlin doesn’t care what the real or pretend media thinks, writes or says, I’m going to have to go with the stupid part.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Tomlin and the Steelers are stupid, but I am saying that they sure do look dumb for listing Pickett as the starting quarterback, even though Rudolph started the last three regular-season games, will start this Sunday in Buffalo, and will continue to start games at quarterback for as long as Pittsburgh remains alive in the Lombardi chase.

Everyone knows what’s going on here. Rudolph is the starting quarterback because he’s presently the best quarterback on the roster. Tomlin continues to use the phrase “hot hand” to describe why Rudolph remains the starter as if the ghost of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh currently possesses him.

Question: If rookie Nick Herbig or veteran Markus Golden records three sacks this Sunday in a Steelers win, would Tomlin start him over a healthy T.J. Watt, who will miss at least the Bills wildcard game with a sprained MCL, in the divisional round against Baltimore?

Child, please.

Pickett is healthy. He’s supposedly been healthy enough to play since the day after the Seahawks game.

Some say he was healthy enough to suit up before the penultimate regular-season matchup in Seattle on December 31, and he refused to do so because he was mad that he got benched.

The depth chart stuff is just more smoke from the possible fire that Mark Madden Tweeted about on New Year’s Day. 

What else are fans and the media supposed to think about this? It appears as if the Steelers are afraid of hurting Pickett’s psyche and damaging his ego, so they’re trying to assure him that he will get his starting job back once the ghost of Slingin’ Sammy leaves Rudolph’s body.

To repeat a sentiment of mine: What has Pickett done to earn this kind of respect? He certainly didn’t do much over his first two dozen games to offer any kind of evidence that he was on his way to being the franchise quarterback of the future.

He’s not a good quarterback in the present. Rudolph is, and that’s why he’s about to start his fourth-straight game.

You might ask why I care about this so much. Rudolph is going to start in the playoffs, and that’s all that should matter, right? Yes, but this doesn’t bode well for how Tomlin and the Steelers will handle the quarterback spot moving forward. I’m not saying they should throw a boatload of money at Rudolph this offseason and bring him back yet again. However, what if the opportunity is there to sign Rudolph, who will be a free agent after Pittsburgh’s playoff chase ends, but the organization elects to move on from him out of stubbornness and a refusal to admit a mistake with the first-round selection of Pickett two years ago?

I do think Pickett, or any quarterback the Steelers draft in the first round, should be given three years to prove he’s the man, but what if you accidentally found the man in the guy you selected in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft?

Evaluating players at any position is hard–especially when it comes to the most important one in team sports–but I’d like to think veteran football coaches and executives would know when a 28-year-old quarterback has come into his own.

Maybe Rudolph hasn’t come into his own. Maybe he is currently possessed by the ghost of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh.

But this depth chart controversy, as silly and inconsequential as it may seem, tells me that the Steelers are hell-bent on not finding out one way or the other.