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Steelers 2023 season review: Rudolph saves Christmas with win over Bengals

Steel City Underground presents our Steelers Recall 2023: A look back at the Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were in a state of turmoil, entering Week 16 with a 7-7 record. The team had lost its last three games, two of them to two different teams that had won two games each. The third loss was an unexpected drubbing at the hands of an Indianapolis Colts team whose roster consisted mostly of reserve players.

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The Steelers also had to play with a number of backups, including at quarterback. Mitchell Trubisky, who started the previous two games, was benched in Indy for longtime backup Mason Rudolph. Head coach Mike Tomlin remained tight-lipped all week ahead of a key divisional rematch against the Cincinnati Bengals, hinting that Rudolph would get “every chance” to start.

And it would begin as fans began to jeer about whether Rudolph could save Christmas and keep Pittsburgh in the playoff race with a win two days before the holidays. Their sarcasm would soon turn to excitement as the season took an unexpected turn.

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The Steelers stormed out of the locker room by forcing the Bengals to punt after six plays. Pittsburgh's offense needed only two drives of its own to reach the end zone, as on the second snap from scrimmage, Rudolph connected with WR George Pickens for an 86-yard touchdown.

There was magic in the air as the Steelers scored 24 unanswered points in the first half. Calvin Austin and Najee Harris both rushed across the goal line and Chris Boswell capped it off with a 50-yard run four seconds before halftime.

The Bengals quickly answered in the second half, as the Steelers offense finally stalled when backup QB Jake Browning had his long connection to WR Tee Higgins for an 80-yard touchdown. Browning hit RB Joe Mixon with a short pass for a successful two-point attempt, but the touchdown scored by the Bengals would be their only one of the game.

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Pittsburgh intercepted three balls from Browning. Patrick Peterson intercepted the balls. Then Eric Rowe, who had just been brought up from the practice squad, intercepted a ball. Highsmith remained calm, caught the third ball and secured the defensive game ball.

Rudolph threw another long pass to Pickens, this time for 66 yards and a touchdown, and the Steelers took a 31-8 lead. Pickens had a great game with four catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Both kickers made more short field goals in the remaining 24 minutes of the game, and the Steelers stayed in the playoff race, improving their record to 8-7 with the 34-11 victory.

Mason Rudolph, who ended up with a QB rating of 124, got the game ball, and after the game ended, the remaining fans chanted the Christmas favorite from the loudspeaker system, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

Unexpected? Of course. But there was more unexpected to come as fans left the final game of the 2023 season at Acrisure Stadium with an early gift. Would Rudolph remain the hottest player? Would the Steelers get help staying in the playoff race? This and more follows as we review the remaining games of last season in our Recall Series.

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