Ben Roethlisberger looks pitiful in Steelers loss to Packers

The Pittsburgh Steelers looked awful against the Green Bay Packers in Week 4. Here’s why Ben Roethlisberger deserves so much of the blame.

It’s hard to find the words to say after another loss like this, and falling to 1-3 on the season isn’t what Steelers fans were hoping for this year. For the first time since mid-season in 2020, Ben Roethlisberger was able to lead his team to a scoring drive to begin the game in the first quarter. However, it was all downhill from there.

When the second quarter began, the Pittsburgh Steelers had held Aaron Rodgers scoreless… but that didn’t last long. The reigning MVP quarterback was able to march his team down the field for 64 yards on 13 plays to cap off the drive with a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Rodgers. Three plays later, Roethlisberger fumbled and the Packers were able to punch in another score.

Green Bay scoring 27 points in this contest wasn’t the biggest issue. Though the defense didn’t seem all there at times as they struggled to routinely get pressure on the quarterback, we expect great offenses to score this many points every game.

Pittsburgh’s issue is that they couldn’t do a thing on offense after the first drive. While some would like to defer the blame to the offensive coordinator Matt Canada or a lackluster offensive line, the elephant in the room must be addressed.

Steelers offense was pitiful because of Ben Roethlisberger

There have been games in the past where Pittsburgh’s offense couldn’t get anything going despite having Roethlisberger. Now their offense is quite unspectacular because of Roethlisberger. It’s sad but true.

While he was able to salvage some of his statistical production with the usual dump-off passes and yards after the catch late in the game, this was an awful performance all around. Ben finished the contest against the Packers throwing 26/40 for 232 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. This embarrassingly low 5.8 yards per attempt help lead to another pathetic passer rating of just 78.3, via ESPN.

The most frustrating moment of the game probably came when Big Ben once again decided to dump the ball down underneath short of the sticks on 4th down. This was the second week in a row he had made such a colossal mistake.

In addition to poor decision-making, Roethlisberger missed wide-open receivers down the field on numerous occasions. JuJu Smith-Schuster seemed incredibly worked-up on the sidelines after Ben overshot him on what would have been two huge plays down the field.

Even with a fourth-quarter touchdown with just over four minutes remaining when the game was well out of reach, Ben’s offense was able to muster up just 17 points – tied for their biggest offensive point total of the season.

This team is losing confidence in their quarterback fast, and it’s hard to blame them. Ben Roethlisberger no longer looks like a signal-caller who is physically capable of leading his team to a Super Bowl title. And if that’s the case, the Steelers need to start thinking about moving on.