During the first four seasons of his 6-year NFL career, Mason Rudolph was largely invisible as a backup to Ben Roethlisberger. Rudolph started a total of 10 games during that period, including eight games in the 2019 regular season when Big Ben was lost for the season with an elbow injury. During the subsequent 2020 and 2021 seasons, Rudolph started only two more games.

Before leading the Steelers to their eighth win at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, Rudolph hadn’t started a single game either in 2022 or 2023 prior to appearing in a mop-up role during the final two minutes of last Saturday’s loss to the Colts. Considering that he was relegated to No. 3 quarterback in 2022 when the Steelers acquired Mitch Trubisky — not appearing in a single game during Kenny Pickett’s rookie season — Rudolph’s outstanding performance in Week 16 is all the more remarkable.

We’re currently witnessing the very first time in Mason’s NFL career when he’s seeing action not as a backup to a future Hall of Fame QB. This simple fact might be more significant than it seems on the surface because, as long as Big Ben was under contract with the Black-and-gold, Rudolph knew he couldn’t possibly win a starting job no matter how well he played. Yet even under those daunting circumstances, Rudolph compiled a decent record of 5-4-1, while passing for 2,366 yards and notching a passer rating of 80.8.

In the wake of his career-best performance as a pro, the question arises about the degree to which, during the last four years of his storied career, Big Ben’s outsized influence on the team hampered Rudolph’s development. We can only speculate about whether, under circumstances of open competition with peers for the Steelers’ starting QB job (like those existing today), Mason might have succeeded.

At the very least, this was an extremely impressive performance in Rudolph’s first start since Week 10 of the 2021 season. This feat should spur some consideration of how his overall performance with the Steelers has been affected by the psychological impact of knowing that he previously occupied a hopeless situation. On the two TD passes to George Pickens, Rudolph not only demonstrated his ability to shake off some heavy rust, but he also left little doubt regarding his arm strength and big-play capability.

Obviously, this sample size comprises only a single game. But Rudolph’s performance also was intriguing when considering the passes where he misfired. In a couple of cases when he overthrew or short-armed passes, it appeared that Rudolph released the ball a split-second earlier than necessary and before his receivers had broken open. Thus, as Rudolph gets additional work and proper guidance, it’s possible he might start to connect on a higher percentage of passes than the ones Steelers Nation was thrilled to witness on Saturday.

But despite Rudolph being widely typecast as a career benchwarmer, who can argue that the Steelers offense never has looked better during the past two years than it did in the team’s 34-11 throttling of the Cincinnati Bengals? And even if Kenny Pickett reclaims his starting role against Seattle next weekend or the following week against the Ravens to close out the regular season, Rudolph’s outstanding performance opens up some beneficial possibilities which seemed non-existent only a week ago.

By returning from virtual oblivion to earn a game ball, Rudolph has at least cemented a position as the Steelers’ No. 2 QB. He also has delivered an important reminder to Kenny Pickett that, in the NFL, competition is fierce and one’s performance is the only thing that can secure a professional career. It’s difficult to view the competition Rudolph represents as anything but a positive factor for a Steelers team which still hasn’t definitively settled the all-important quarterback position.

Furthermore, it now seems obvious that the Steelers have the option of parting ways with Mitch Trubisky during the offseason, thus opening the possibility of drafting or signing another young QB who could provide the additional competition which Trubisky has never succeeded in doing. While this victory doesn’t do much to change the likely outcome for these 2023 Pittsburgh Steelers, Mason Rudolph’s ability to rise to the occasion — after what must have seemed like an interminable layoff — has given Steelers Nation a much-needed taste of what quality at the QB position means to a struggling football team. As a raucous home crowd in Pittsburgh confirmed, this victory over a divisional rival was definitely the kind of feel-good experience that Steelers fans have been sorely lacking for some time.