Mason Rudolph's Breakout Performance Just Saved the Steelers' Season

The Pittsburgh Steelers limped into Monday Night Football against the Bengals nursing an 0-3 record. Their offense had no identity. Their defense couldn't get its act together. But by the time the dust settled, they bested their division rivals 27-3 in a game that they dominated on both ends. Notably, unsung quarterback Mason Rudolph finally announced himself, going 24-of-28 -- that's 85.7% -- for 229 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions.

But he didn't just pad his stats against an admittedly bad Cincy team with low-risk dump-offs all game long. He did stuff like this:

That's a professional throw right there. The second-year gunslinger out of Oklahoma State was clearly needing to find his footing after being thrust into the starter's role in the blink of an eye after Ben Roethlisberger went down in Week 2's loss to Seattle.

He found it. And in doing so, he made his team look nothing like the one that started the year with an embarrassing performance against New England only to lose the next two weeks running.

Sure, lots of credit belongs with the Pittsburgh pass rush, who produced eight (!) sacks on the day and ate Andy Dalton alive. And let's be sure to recognize James Conner, who put together 125 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. But to see such a youthful and unproven QB as Rudolph, a 2018 third-round pick, assert himself so forcefully when his team needed it most was powerful stuff.

And it may have just saved this season in the Steel City.

Yeah, that was slick stuff.

The best is surely still to come from this kid. At the same time, he's going to have his fair share of struggles, particularly with a home game with Baltimore and an away date with the Chargers coming right up. But for now, Steeler fans should feel revitalized courtesy of Rudolph, who showed on MNF that he can be a lot more than just a backup.