The Pittsburgh Steelers may have to start backup Mason Rudolph in Week 12 against the Chicago Bears. But if that happens, former Steelers defensive lineman Chris Hoke argued the offense is in good hands.
Hoke wouldn’t go so far as to say Rudolph should be starting instead of 4-time MVP Aaron Rodgers. But with the chance to play, Hoke stated Rudolph could be the next breakout star quarterback.
“Listen, if Aaron Rodgers is healthy, he’s going to play,” Hoke said on the KDKA Nightly Sports Call in Pittsburgh, via Steelers Depot’s Jake Brockhoff. “But you’re looking at Mason Rudolph, and it’s almost a situation where I start to wonder, it’s almost like a Sam Darnold, where all of the sudden, he clicks.
“If Mason Rudolph is given the opportunity and the keys to the car, will he run with this thing and do well? I believe if he is given the keys to the car and no leash, I think he can do well for the Steelers.”
Sam Darnold had a rough outing in Week 11, throwing four interceptions with zero touchdowns. But Darnold broke out with the Minnesota Vikings last season after J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury over the summer.
With the Seattle Seahawks this season, Darnold was an MVP candidate with a 71.1% completion percentage, 2,262 passing yards and 17 touchdowns before Week 11. In his first nine games this season, he averaged 9.9 yards per attempt.
Comparing Rudolph to Darnold is high praise for the Steelers backup. But it makes sense Hoke, who won a pair of Super Bowls with Pittsburgh during the 2005 and 2008 seasons, would have confidence in Rudolph.
In 2023, Rudolph came on to replace an injured Kenny Pickett and struggling Mitch Trubisky. Rudolph brought the Steelers back from the brink, leading them to three consecutive wins to end the regular season.
During those three contests, Rudolph posted a 74.3% completion percentage, 9.7 yards per pass and three touchdowns with zero picks.
Granted, that was a small sample. Rudolph was also only a third-round pick, not the No. 3 overall selection in the NFL Draft as Darnold once was.
Darnold is finally fulfilling his expected potential. As a third-round pick, though, Rudolph wasn’t a consensus projected future starter in the league.
But those three 2023 starts will give a lot of pundits confidence that Rudolph will at least be serviceable for the Steelers if Rodgers has to miss any games.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters after Sunday’s win versus the Cincinnati Bengals that Rodgers has a left wrist injury. Tomlin added that Rodgers will undergo further evaluation Monday.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday the “initial concern” for Rodgers is that he has a break in his wrist. But that won’t be confirmed or refuted until the quarterback gets more tests to begin the week.
Rudolph played the entire second half Sunday in Rodgers’s absence. Rudolph completed 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards with a touchdown and zero picks.
Every start for an NFL quarterback is an opportunity. If Rodgers can’t play on November 23, Rudolph will get another chance to show what he can do as a starter.
If he plays well enough with a big enough sample to end 2025, could Rudolph still be Pittsburgh’s long-term solution behind center? Hoke obviously believes that’s possible.
Should that happen, that would be a huge boost for the Steelers. Speculation has already run wild about what the organization could do at quarterback next offseason. Rumors have suggested Rodgers could come back.
As of November 17, Rodgers deserves to return as the Steelers starter for 2026. But the team surely wouldn’t mind having other options.
If he plays well, Rudolph would give the Steelers another option. He could even be one of the better options, given the potential free agent quarterbacks and Pittsburgh’s 2026 draft position.
In 18 NFL starts, Rudolph is 9-8-1 with a 62.76% completion percentage and 6.8 yards per pass. He also has 3,963 passing yards and 23 touchdowns versus 18 interceptions.
Charlie Lindgren faced an old friend on Monday night, taking the net against the LA Kings opposite former goaltending partner Darcy Kuemper. The pair had played two seasons together from 2022 to 2024 before the Capitals traded Kuemper to California.
With the Caps looking to snap a two-game losing streak, Lindgren came up big against the Kings, stopping 30 of 31 shots in the 2-1 win. Not only did the game give the Capitals some much-needed standings points, but it also gave Lindgren his first victory in over a month.
“I think for Chuckie to step in, that’s a really tough team to play against, right?” Nic Dowd said postgame. “They do all the little things. They get to the net. It’s tough for him to see pucks. He played really, really well and made some big saves. It kept us in that game when we weren’t foot on the gas.”
Lindgren had overtaken Kuemper for the starter’s role before the trade, but the pair both took different paths in the 2024-25 season. While Lindgren eventually lost his starting role to new acquisition Logan Thompson, Kuemper thrived in LA, putting up a .922 save percentage and 2.02 goals-against average on the way to third place in Vezina Trophy voting. Still, the two have remained close from opposite ends of the continent.
“I love Darcy,” Lindgren said postgame. “I think all you guys know that. I mean, he was such a pro to me, and still one of my really good friends today…So it’s fun playing against friends like that.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery, too, rejected the idea that Lindgren had more to play for against his old partner.
“I think it could have been against anyone,” he said. “Obviously he knows who was going in net at the other end, but I don’t think it mattered one iota who was going up against him. He just wanted to play well, and he did exactly that.”
What did matter to Lindgren, however, was proving himself after a rocky start to the season. Lindgren had won just one of his first five starts and averaged 3.59 goals against per game, playing largely on the second half of back-to-backs.
Much of the blame rested on the skaters in front of him. Per MoneyPuck, Lindgren had stopped 1.7 goals above expected in those games, and players took responsibility for letting him down in net. So when Lindgren got a rested start against the Kings, both he and the team were determined to make the most of it.
“Chuckie’s a guy that, for some reason, we just haven’t been able to get the job done with him in net,” Matt Roy said. “But the guy works harder than anyone.”
“Those guys love him, and they just care so much about Chuckie,” Carbery. “As hard as it is for Chuckie when he’s in games and we’re not playing well in front of him and they’re ending up in the back of the net, the guys feel that too, and they take that to heart.”
LA has been one of the strongest road teams in the league, putting up a record of 9-1-2 in their first 12 away games, but the Capitals started strong, with former King Matt Roy scoring less than four minutes into the first. That early success helped Lindgren gain confidence as the night went on.
“It helps to get off to a good start,” he said. “I feel like my first few games probably haven’t been that way. I’ve been taking ourselves a whole one nothing, two nothing, three nothing. Felt good to go to a lead tonight and credit to the guys in front of me for doing that.”
That’s not to say that Lindgren wasn’t tested, even in the first period. One of his biggest stops of the night when he stopped Alex Laferriere on a shorthanded breakaway midway through the opening frame.
“You look at the first period, I mean, they didn’t have a ton of rubber at the net,” Lindgren said. But maybe the ones they had were maybe above average quality. So that’s my job, to obviously keep the puck out of the net…thankful that I was able to do that tonight.”
Kuemper, too, put up an excellent showing against his former team, a fact Lindgren made sure to highlight postgame, pointing to what looked like a surefire goal from Tom Wilson at the netfront that Kuemper had managed to stop.
“He had a heck of a game,” Lindgren said. “I mean, we’re up 2-0 and I was just dying for us to get to three. And he did a good job. I don’t even know — that one in the third on Willy — I don’t know if he saved that or what. But he played heck of a game
But except for a single goal from Anze Kopitar, Lindgren stood tall to hold onto the lead, even as the Capitals faltered. He went on to make a series of critical saves in the final 20 minutes, both during an LA power play and at six-on-five to secure the win.
Lindgren is unlikely to retake his former starting role, especially given another stellar start to the season from Thompson. But competing against Kuemper once again, albeit on opposite sides of the ice this time, Lindgren proved he can still come out on top.