7 greatest Pittsburgh Steelers of the Ben Roethlisberger era
By Scott Long
2. Ben Roethlisberger
Ben Roethlisberger’s legacy is set as a two-time Super Bowl champion at the quarterback position, and he will almost certainly be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He also led the team to a third Super Bowl but fell to the Green Bay Packers in the 2010 season.
Roethlisberger is the Steelers’ all-time leader in nearly every statistical passing category, and according to Pro Football Reference, is eighth in NFL history in passing touchdowns with 396, and seventh in NFL history in passing yards with 60,348. He is also the only quarterback in NFL history to throw six touchdown passes in back-to-back games.
Despite not winning any Super Bowl MVP awards, Roethlisberger has had significant success in the postseason during his career. In Super Bowl XL III, Roethlisberger made a seemingly impossible pass to Santonio Holmes in the back corner of the end zone, for the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of the game. And who could forget his game-saving shoestring tackle of Nick Harper in the Divisional Round of the 2005 NFL Playoffs following Jerome Bettis’ fumble.
Roethlisberger has made a career out of broken plays, when the pocket broke down Roethlisberger was at his best, and his receivers were always able to adjust when he scrambled. And while many of the other Steelers exemplified toughness, Roethlisberger was widely regarded as one of the toughest quarterbacks in the entire NFL throughout his career. Roethlisberger broke his nose against the Baltimore Ravens but opted to snap in back into place and stay in the game, and has played through other injuries throughout his career.
Roethlisberger has been playing quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2004, and the team has had an awful lot of success during that time. At 39 years old, Roethlisberger’s time in the league may be coming to an end soon, whether it’s this season or not remains to be seen, but the Steelers will look to make another Super Bowl run with Ben under center, in what could be his final year this year.