After sorting through the best seasons in Steelers history, let’s have a look at the Black and Gold’s best player to ever play the glamour position, quarterback.
It’s arguably the hardest position in sports to play, but even with that, quarterbacks get far too much credit and far too much blame.
If a team can’t pull out a win in the final seconds of the game, often the responsibility is heaped on the shoulders of the quarterback. This in spite of the fact that the entire team played in the 58 minutes leading up to that 2-minute drive.
On the other hand, if a quarterback throws three interceptions in a game, but then leads that final drive to a score, he is seen as “clutch.”
In football, there are a couple of places that just conjure up imagines of winners, where being the quarterback is highest pedestal you can be on. Dallas is one such place. Green Bay is another. Without a doubt, Pittsburgh is one of those places.
So, who are the best who ever played the position for the Mighty Black and Gold? Let’s have a look.
Number 3 – Kordell Stewart
Okay, he only had a short tenure as the starter in the ‘Burgh, and he didn’t exactly win a lot, but there is one thing that lands “Slash” on this list: He was the single best athlete to ever take snaps in Black and Gold.
“Slash” played wide receiver in his first year (1995) with the Steelers, which he continued to play sparingly until 1999. He amassed 658 yards at receiver with an impressive average yards per reception of 16.0.
He is second all time in rushing touchdowns for a quarterback with 38. Only Steve Young with 43 has more. He collected a total of 2874 yards on the ground in 560 career rushes.
As far as throwing the ball, he had a very good arm, but had a knack for throwing into coverage. He finished his career with 77 touchdowns, but 84 picks.
2001 was his best season, when he threw for more than 3000 yards and completed more than 60% of his passes. He would play in the Pro Bowl that year.
The simple fact of the matter is if you wanted a guy who could do it all, Kordell “Slash” Stewart was that guy.
Number 2 – Ben Roethlisberger
The current, and embattled, quarterback of the Steelers is as clutch as they come. If you need a play, more often than not, Big Ben will deliver.
Such is the respect he has earned that many people were actually shocked that he was not able to lead the Steelers on a game winning drive at the end of SB45.
All Ben has done since he came into the league in 2004 is set several dozen NFL and Steelers records for quarterbacks. Not the least of which are most regular season wins for a rookie QB (13); most wins to start a career (15); most wins in first five years of a career (51); and only quarterback to ever register two games in one regular season with perfect passer ratings.
Considering the savage beatings he seems to take every year, he has been remarkably durable, missing 6 games due to injury. Of course, some of those beatings are self inflicted because he flat refuses to let a play go. He is always trying to make something happen and the reason he is always trying to do that is because most of the time he pulls it off.
Ben has played in three Super Bowls and won two of them, one of them with an incredible late-game touchdown drive culminating with one of the best passes I have ever seen. The touch on the pass to Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone in SB43 was simply astonishing. If he throws that ball any harder, Holmes can’t catch it in bounds. Any softer, and it is deflected by the defender.
He is always exciting, even if it is not always in a good way, and for that, he is number two on this list.
Number 1 – Terry Bradshaw
Come on, you had to see that coming.
All Terry Bradshaw did was walk into a struggling franchise searching for an offensive identity and led them to four Super Bowl wins taking MVP honors in two of them.
During his Hall of Fame career, Bradshaw amassed 27,989 yards with 212 touchdowns.
He was known to have a cannon arm, but accused of not being very smart. Before Super Bowl 13, a rematch of SBX, Cowboys linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson once famously said that Bradshaw couldn’t spell “cat” if you spotted him the “c” and the “a.”
Bradshaw got his revenge on the field setting a then-record for passing yards in the Super Bowl (318) and touchdowns (4).
At the time of his retirement, Bradshaw was the leader in passing yards and touchdowns in the Super Bowl, 932 and 9 respectively.
He was a three-time Pro Bowler and the NFL MVP in 1978 and was inducted into the pro football Hall of Fame in 1989.
While the Steel Curtain defenses of the 70s were the talk of Pittsburgh, one has to think that the Steelers wouldn’t have been as successful without the big Louisiana native under center.
Clearly, he was the best to ever play the position for the Mighty Black and Gold.
As always, I invite your thoughts and commentary.