Time Is Ben Roethlisberger’s Hardest Critic


Ben Roethlisberger led a final drive for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night, in a game that ended before it officially ended, as did his NFL career.

Roethlisberger, who will turn 40 in March, nearly announced his retirement after 18 seasons as the Steelers quarterback. Following your team wild card round playoff loss Speaking to the Kansas City Chiefs, Roethlisberger spoke about “moving from one division to the next” at a press conference. He said he hugged Cameron Heyward, the next longest-time player for the Steelers, and said the torch was now his.

“He’s probably going to really hit me when I get to training camp,” Roethlisberger said.

The 42-21 loss, Roethlisberger’s worst playoff defeat in the playoffs, abruptly ended what may have been a long Steelers season. The farewell round began two weeks ago, with Roethlisberger conceding that “this could happen” before his final home game in Pittsburgh. His team sneaked out as the AFC’s No. 7 seed post-season, but failed to match the conference’s new superpower, Kansas City.

Despite the game’s wide margin, the Steelers called their final timeout with 11 seconds left, giving Roethlisberger another chance to come out with a touchdown.

The element of time stands out in Roethlisberger’s career. He won a Super Bowl in his second NFL season and added another championship ring just three years later, these achievements are expected to earn him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He amassed 165 regular season wins as the first quarterback, the fifth most in league history, and is in the top 10 in the major career transition categories.

But as time went on, he became less and less capable of presenting the style of play that earned him these early successes: hardcore and instinctive backyard football, which relies on his ability to absorb kicks and push games beyond logic. His 240-pound frame, which once required multiple defenders to tackle, has worn out from contact, injuries and age buildup.

During his peak, Roethlisberger’s success concealed two sexual assault allegations made against him. Nev. A Lake Tahoe hotel employee filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Roethlisberger raped her in her hotel room in 2009. Later, in March 2010, a Georgia college student told police that Roethlisberger had sexually assaulted her in a nightclub bathroom, while her friends said they were prevented from reaching her by two off-duty Pennsylvania police officers who accompanied Roethlisberger that night. Roethlisberger has denied both accounts.

He later settled the case in Nevada, and the local district attorney in Georgia refused to press charges, citing lack of evidence. The student also requested not to bring charges; his lawyer wrote to the district attorney that he did not get his account back, but that it would be personally intrusive for him to participate in a case that is expected to receive “extraordinary media attention.”

There were questions about the handling of the Georgia case. The toilet where the attack was said to have taken place was flushed the next day, potentially destroying evidence and the police officer who first investigated the case then referred the woman with abusive words.

After the police investigation, NFL suspends Roethlisberger He is the first player to be suspended from charge of any offense under the league’s personal conduct policy in the first six games of the 2010 season. The penalty was later reduced to 4 games. That season, Roethlisberger took the Steelers back to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Green Bay Packers.

Both allegations against him came years before the NFL tried to strengthen its response to allegations of sexual assault and partner violence, and the #MeToo movement drew attention to accounts of assault and harassment. It’s impossible to know whether the different timing will change the way cases against Roethlisberger are handled – legally, by the NFL or the sports media – just to know that those who consider his legacy are now doing so in a very different climate.

Roethlisberger’s hint of retirement resulted in a week 17 send-off against the Browns at Heinz Field, a win that kept the Steelers’ limping playoff chances alive. The team’s minority owner, Thomas Tull, pulled out a full front-page ad thanking the quarterback in the Sunday edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Roethlisberger took a post-game lap around the stadium to greet the fans. His wife and three children, whom he married in 2011, later met him in the tunnel.

During the “Monday Night Football” broadcast, ESPN color commentator Brian Griese made a redeeming reference to Roethlisberger’s “immaturity” and early “mistakes”, adding that the fan base “forgives” him. This effort to clear his farewell was an oversimplification at best. There’s no easy way to juxtapose the two sexual assault allegations that 18-year-old Roethlisberger supported the Steelers with his game, but both are part of his NFL career.

A person’s legacy is not always clean and tidy, and the same goes for endings. With one game left in Kansas City, Roethlisberger completed the final pass, but his target, tight end Zach Gentry, fell behind the end zone. The Steelers could no longer stop the clock and the final seconds passed.



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