Ben Roethlisberger is having one of the best seasons of his career, but the Steelers quarterback is still a longshot to win MVP.
Despite being a six-time Pro Bowl quarterback and two-time Super Bowl champion, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has never seriously been considered for the Most Valuable Player award. While he is no doubt Hall-of-Fame bound, his brilliant career has often been overshadowed by players some of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game in Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers.
As it turns out, not much has changed in 2020. Though Roethlisberger is currently boasting the best touchdown-to-interception ratio of his 17-year career and owns a thoroughly impressive 103.0 quarterback rating through the first nine weeks of the season, he is still a longshot to win league MVP this year. According to Odds Shark, Big Ben sits at a distant 7th in the league at +2500 odds. This is significantly worse than players at the top of this list like Russell Wilson (+150) and Patrick Mahomes (+220).
While I’m certainly not advocating that Roethlisberger is more deserving of this award than Wilson or Mahomes, his odds seem remarkably low compared to some other NFL players.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, for instance, has much better odds of winning MVP this year at +950. While Allen does currently lead the league in passing yards, he has thrown for fewer touchdowns (21) and more interceptions (7) than Roethlisberger so far this year in one more game played (10).
What is holding the Steelers QB back?
On paper, Roethlisberger’s numbers look terrific, and it certainly doesn’t hurt his case that his team is undefeated through the first nine games of the season. However, Ben isn’t without weaknesses in his game.
This year has shown evidence of a decline in his ability to consistently pass the ball down the field. According to Playerprofiler.com, Big Ben is just 30th in the league in deep ball completion percentage – connecting on a mere 25.6 percent of passes down the field. As a result, the average distance of a completed pass from Roethlisberger is a dismal 4.8 yards past the line of scrimmage. In addition, the Steelers quarterback is 27th in yards per attempt, 31st in clean pocket completion percentage, and 20th in total QBR.
These stats don’t mean that Roethlisberger isn’t having a good season, but it’s clear that he currently has more limitations than some of the top passers in the league.
On the flip side, Ben has started to look down the field more in recent weeks but has been off the mark in many passes. If he can start hitting on more of these opportunities, there is a chance that his MVP odds could skyrocket before the end of the season. He already has a phenomenal touchdown-to-interception ratio (22/4) and he has a chance to earn a better passer rating than he’s had in the first 16 years of his NFL career.
Overall, it’s highly unlikely that Ben Roethlisberger will win league MVP this year – especially considering how well players like Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes have played in 2020. But while he remains a longshot for this honor, at least the Steelers will have a legitimate shot at a Super Bowl title this season.