The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their third game in 11 days when they host the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. While they're not the only team that's had to play a wonky and unsafe/unfair schedule, it doesn't make it look any better when the NFL preaches about player safety while still forcing players to play so many games in under two weeks.
Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger didn't hold back when criticizing the NFL schedule-makers. He called the league out for only caring about money and clearly not caring about limiting injuries.
“It's miserable. It's a shame that the league does this. It just shows that it's all about money and this is a way that they can, you know, make more money and figure this thing out because it's not fair for the players. You wanna talk about injuries and making the game safer, changing the kickoff rule and preventing guys on hip-drop tackles, and concussions, and this that and the other, and you're going to make guys play the most violent game in the world, arguably, three games in 11 days. I mean, there's no time for your body to get healthy and rest.”
Ben Roethlisberger rips NFL for scheduling 3 games in 11 days
As noted, the Steelers aren't the only team having to play three games in 11 days but that argument makes the situation look worse for the NFL quite frankly. All four teams that have found themselves in this conundrum are playoff teams and one of them is the same team that's won back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
This is a poor look for the NFL but unfortunately, there's not much that's going to be done about it. The league cares about making money and jamming this many games into a short window makes them boatloads of cash.
Good for Roethlisberger for putting the NFL on blast but sadly, it's unlikely the league will listen to his complajnts, or anyone else's for that matter.