The Pittsburgh Steelers found a Hall of Fame quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. Here are the six greatest moments of his career.
With Pittsburgh’s regular season coming to a close and Ben Roethlisberger having played his last regular-season games, we’ll look back at some of the finest moments of his illustrious career, as he gears up for one last postseason run.
Roethlisberger has played since 2004, and during his time has led the Steelers to three Super Bowl appearances, and two Super Bowl victories. While the time is undoubtedly close, it will definitely be strange to watch a Steelers game without number 7 under center next season. The following plays and moments are just a few of the most magical moments of Roethlisberger’s Steelers career.
6. The fake spike
While the Steelers didn’t win this game, this play was so impressive, and came at such an opportune time, that it was impossible not to include. Trailing against the Cowboys 29-24, with the clock running and less the one minute remaining in the game, Roethlisberger and the Steelers were driving and trying to get into the end zone.
Roethlisberger tricked the defense into believing he was spiking the ball, and after faking the spike, hit a wide-open Antonio Brown in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. The play was one of many signature moments for the Roethlisberger-Brown duo. Unfortunately, the Steelers scored too fast, and Dallas was able to go back down and score, winning the game 35-30.
The loss doesn’t change how impressive the play was by Roethlisberger, instead, it only makes it more underrated. Had the Steelers defense held the Cowboys and prevented them from scoring, this play may be looked back on much more as one of the finest plays of Roethlisberger’s Hall of Fame career, as it would’ve also served as a game-winner.
5. Mike Wallace’s game-winner
In December of 2009, Ben Roethlisberger outdueled Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in a 37-36 thriller at Heinz Field. In this game, Roethlisberger completed 29 of 46 passes for 503 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.
Despite the gaudy stat line, that wasn’t what makes this game so significant for Roethlisberger. It was his 19-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Mike Wallace that made this game so special. Roethlisberger’s completion came as time expired, and was a tightly contested throw on the sideline. The throw was put in a place only Wallace could catch it, and involved a tremendous toe-tap catch, along with the tremendous throw.
This is clearly one of the best plays of Roethlisberger’s career, but due to its occurrence in the regular season, and Roethlisberger’s multitude of signature moments in the playoffs, it cannot rank any higher on the list.
4. Throwing 6 touchdown passes in consecutive games
Any time you are the first to do something, it is extremely impressive. And that is something Roethlisberger can take credit for as he became the first player in NFL history to record six passing touchdowns in back-to-back games in 2014.
The first of these games came in a 51-34 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In a duel against Andrew Luck in which both quarterbacks threw for over 400 yards, Roethlisberger came out on top. On the day he finished 40-49 for 522 yards, 6 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and a 150.6 passer rating, according to ESPN. Roethlisberger did this while spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved, as Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant each had two touchdowns, while Heath Miller and Markus Wheaton each had one of their own.
The next week, in a divisional matchup against a tough Ravens defense, Roethlisberger kept his hot streak going. In this game Roethlisberger put up another impressive stat line, completing 25 of 37 passes for 340 yards, 6 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and 136.3 passer rating. This time, five different receivers got in on the scoring as Bryant had two more touchdowns, and Wheaton, Brown, Le’Veon Bell, and Matt Spaeth all had one of their own.
3. The Shoestring tackle
Believe it or not, one of the finest moments of Ben Roethlisberger’s career wasn’t even a pass or a run. Instead, it was a tackle, which happened to save the team’s season.
With a 21-18 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Steelers were in the red zone looking to score to ice the game. However, Jerome Bettis fumbled the carry and it was picked up by Nick Harper who was looking to score the go-ahead touchdown. However, Roethlisberger came up with a clutch shoestring tackle near mid-field.
Despite the tackle, the Colts only needed a field goal to send the game to Overtime. However, after getting into field goal range, Mike Vanderjagt, the Colts kicker missed a 45-yard field goal, and the Steelers won 21-18.
The tackle is known as the savior of the playoff run, as the Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl, defeating the Seattle Seahawks, and allowing Bettis to end his career as a Super Bowl champion in his hometown of Detroit, in his final career game.
2. 3rd-down playoff bomb
One of the finest moments of Roethlisberger’s career came in the 2011 AFC Divisional Round against the Baltimore Ravens. Tied 24-24 with 2:07 left in the fourth quarter, and facing a 3rd and 19 the Steelers looked to have their backs against the wall.
However, Roethlisberger uncorked a 58-yard deep ball to rookie wide receiver Antonio Brown to put the Steelers inside the 10-yard line and in position to take a late lead. The deep strike to Brown was right on the money, and Brown secured the catch up against his helmet before going out of bounds. This play set up the game-winning touchdown, which was a two-yard touchdown run by Rashard Mendenhall.
The victory set the Steelers up to play against the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game, a game that they won. They would go on to play in Roethlisberger’s third career Super Bowl but unfortunately were not enough to topple Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
1. Steelers win Super Bowl XLIII
It should come as no surprise that Super Bowl XLIII checks in at number one on this list. In the biggest game of the year, Roethlisberger stepped up in a big way, particularly on the final drive. Roethlisberger ended the Super Bowl with a total of 21 completions on 30 attempts for 256 yards passing, one touchdown, and one interception.
However, it was his work on the final drive that makes his play in this game so impressive. Roethlisberger orchestrated an eight-play drive that went 78 yards in 2:02. The drive was capped off by a tremendous six-yard touchdown pass and catch from Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes. The play represents one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, and with it being the game-winning play, that only raises its acclaim.
Holmes was named the Super Bowl MVP, after catching nine passes for 131 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Holmes did most of the damage on the final drive, making him the choice for the MVP. However, he couldn’t have done it without the tremendous play of his quarterback who had a great game in his own right.
Roethlisberger is undoubtedly one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. The Steelers will look a lot different without him under center next year, and it will take a long time to get used to watching the Steelers without number 7.