Mark Madden: What will happen if Mitch Trubisky plays better than Kenny Pickett?

Thursday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and visiting New England Patriots figures to be one of the NFL’s worst games this season. Neither team scores much. The over/under is a microscopic 30 1/2. Yet the under seems an incredibly safe wager.

The Steelers just lost at home by 14 to the 3-10 Arizona Cardinals. How can they be favored by six against 2-10 New England? The Steelers, frankly, aren’t that much better.

For the Steelers, it’s a game that will define their season.

It’s a big pressure spot. Losing to Arizona erased any cushion the Steelers had for making the playoffs. Four AFC teams, including the Steelers, are 7-5. Three more are 6-6. Only three teams get wild cards.

After playing New England, the Steelers’ schedule gets tougher. (But not onerously so. The NFL is mostly terrible this season.)

The Steelers are banged up. That’s exacerbated by a short week. Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and edge rusher T.J. Watt figure to play hurt. Inside linebacker Elandon Roberts and guard Isaac Seumalo might not.

Quarterback Kenny Pickett is out. That’s where the fun starts.

Pickett stinks. He has played horribly. His stats are frighteningly bad.

Mitch Trubisky will deputize. Trubisky is no better. Trubisky, like Pickett, is a first-round bust. Trubisky was drafted second overall in 2017.

Pickett got selected 20th overall in 2022. If Pickett wants a good look at his future, he should watch Trubisky. That’s where his career is headed. To somebody’s bench.

What if Trubisky comes in and plays better than Pickett? (Which won’t be that difficult.)

Trubisky plays with more risk. He might throw more interceptions. But what if he throws more touchdowns? (Which also won’t be that difficult.)

What if Trubisky wins games and looks more dynamic?

What if Trubisky wins three out of four against New England, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Seattle, or splits — and then Pickett is ready to return in the season finale at Baltimore with a playoff berth on the line?

Pickett would go right back in. No matter how cold. Absolutely. That’s how the Steelers operate.

That’s what I’m rooting for. UNLEASH THE FURY, MITCH!

Plan B: Trubisky gets hurt (no offense, Mitch) and Mason Rudolph, his face mask cut off, rides in on a white horse.

The Steelers fired their Great Satan of an offensive coordinator and have scored fewer points since. So I’ll take my fun where I can get it.

Watt provides fun, too.

Frustrated by being held without penalty, Watt said after Sunday’s loss that “the NFL has something going against me.” Watt did not define how the NFL benefits from such a conspiracy.

Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin later compared holding Watt to “hack-a-Shaq,” the old NBA strategy of constantly fouling dominant big man Shaquille O’Neal: “People would hack Shaq all the time, and he got fouled so much, and everybody knew it was a foul, but after a while they didn’t call it because he was so doggone good.”

That’s an invalid comparison.

O’Neal got fouled because he was rotten at shooting free throws. The referees didn’t stop calling fouls committed against O’Neal. Watt doesn’t get to shoot free throws.

Austin said the Steelers weren’t going to complain about it. But that’s exactly what Austin was doing and exactly what Watt did.

If Watt wants to stop the holding, he should do what Steelers legend Joe Greene did: If you held Greene, you got punched in the groin.

Watt is a great player. He has 14 sacks, second in the NFL.

But he’s never won a playoff game, and he’s a whiner.

I like where the Steelers are at, though: currently in a playoff berth and going as far as Trubisky takes them. (Aw, come on, Mitch …)