Some fans in the stands decided they’d had enough of Mitch Trubisky, the number two overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, after the backup quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who was starting for the first time in 2023 in place of an injured Kenny Pickett, as he struggled in the first half against the New England Patriots.

As Trubisky was having trouble finding his game, there were chants for third-stringer Mason Rudolph throughout Acrisure Stadium. However, head coach Mike Tomlin commended Trubisky for his perseverance and improvement throughout the game. After making one interception and having the other one negated by a pass interference penalty, it would have been difficult for him to do worse. Rudolph claimed to have heard the cries for him to join the action.

After being selected by Pittsburgh in the 2017 draft, Rudolph has had an interesting time living there. Having started in 17 games, he has a career record of 5-4-1 as a starter. Of those starts, eight came during the 2019 season, when Ben Roethlisberger was sidelined by an elbow injury that ended his season.

Since 2021, when he took Roethlisberger’s place and tied the Detroit Lions, Rudolph has not been the starter. Pittsburgh had already lost the game when he played his final snaps in Week 15 of 2021 versus the Kansas City Chiefs. In a Tuesday media appearance, Rudolph said he could hear the Pittsburgh supporters urging him to take Trubisky’s place on the field.

Rudolph admitted that he has previously been on both sides of crowd chants, but he made an effort to maintain his attention on the current task. That was attempting to help the team defeat the Patriots on Thursday night despite being behind.