Is the ‘bad blood’ between Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger just a hoax?

A longtime Pittsburgh Steelers writer hinted that there is ‘bad blood’ between Ben Roethlisberger and the organization. Is there any truth to this?

By now, you might have heard a rumor that there is ‘bad blood’ between former franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is something that has been all over social media and there seems to be opinions on both sides.

This whole conversation started when Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was asked a question on his chat transcript. When a fan posed a question on whether or not there is bad blood between the Steelers and Big Ben — referencing the fallout with Troy Polamalu — Dulac seemed very straightforward in his response, stating, “I would say it’s very very safe to assume that.”

This remark quickly gained a head of steam as fans were taking to social media trying to figure out why Dulac would say this and what exactly he meant by these comments. This story soon became national news as NBC Sports’ Mike Florio talked about this strong statement.

But the question we should all be asking is this: Is there any proof that this is the case?

While Dulac claimed that it’s ‘safe to assume’ there is bad blood, that doesn’t necessarily mean there is.

Big Ben’s beef with the Steelers sounds like a hoax

In our judicial system, people are innocent until proven guilty. We should apply that model to what we hear in the media. Here are the facts: we know that Gerry Dulac has gone on record saying that it’s ‘very very safe to assume’ that there is bad blood between Roethlisberger and the Steelers. But what do we actually know?

As far as I’m concerned, there hasn’t been a single inclination (outside of Dulac’s own remarks in his chat transcript) that this is the case. In fact, following a disappointing end to the 2022 season, these are Ben Roethlisberger’s own words, according to The Daily Wire:

"“I’m going to do everything I can to be the best husband and father I can be and try to expand God’s kingdom. It’s tough. I’m proud to have played with these guys. God has blessed me with an ability to throw a football and has blessed me to play in the greatest city, Pittsburgh, with the greatest fans and the greatest football team and players, and it’s just been truly a blessing and I’m so thankful to him for the opportunity that he’s given me.”“I’ve been here a long time, and it’s been a lot of fun. Like I said, God has blessed me … It was meant to be that I was going to wear black and gold. Draft day I had a black suit on with a gold tie. I’m just so thankful.”"

In some of his final statements to the media as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s hard to draw the conclusion that Roethlisberger has an unresolved beef with the organization for how things ended. If anything, his remarks suggest the opposite.

It might be true that Big Ben would have liked to play one more year at age 40. We don’t know for sure. However, I would love to hear Dulac’s reasoning as to why we should automatically assume there is ‘bad blood’ between Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At the end of the day, I just don’t think that Dulac has a very good reason for saying what he did. He probably made an assumption without putting a ton of thought into it — not knowing that his statements would blow up like this. All we know for sure is what Ben Roethlisberger has come out and told us. The ‘bad blood’ thing just sounds like a hoax to me.