My Steelers–Ben Roethlisberger’s Legacy
I finally picked a winner this year! My Steelers won their 6th World Championship yesterday. It was far too close a game for my tastes and they won it ugly but they did it.
And that’s what I wanted to discuss this evening. They won it really ugly. Personal fouls when there shouldn’t have been. A vaunted defense that collapsed. An offensive line that gave Ben little or no protection and when they did, forced safeties. A crappy running game. Who won it? Santonio Holmes, right? Nope. Ben did.
Let me begin with saying that I’ve never been a big Roethlisberger fan. He’s injured more often than he’s well. He’s too inconsistent for my taste (but when you go back through the line of Steelers QB–Bradshaw, Brister, Stewart, O’Donnell, Maddox, and Tomczak it’s sort of a prerequisite). He has a bit of the “right place at the right time” feel about him. However, last night changed all of that in my opinion. He was the leader of the team. He would not lose. He led a come back that only 2 other quarterbacks could ever do–Joe Montana and John Elway–good company to be in. He gave credit even when credit wasn’t due (Offensive Line) and he played hard (no QB slides in this game), he ran around, made plays, and, basically, did everything that he needed to do to win. He’s going to have years down the road where he sucks or doesn’t bring his A game. I will not allow myself to criticize him after the performance he gave last night. Like my favorite coach of all time, Jim Tressel, he’s earned his tenure. He can do whatever he wants with that team from now on.