Ben Roethlisberger is struggling mightily for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers struck gold when they selected Ben Roethlisberger with the No. 11 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Roethlisberger experienced a great deal of success early on in his career, winning a Super Bowl in just his second year in the league and winning a second title in just his fifth year as an NFL quarterback.
While Roethlisberger has undoubtedly been a talented quarterback, injuries have always been a trend for him, unfortunately, especially in recent years as he’s gotten older. While he hasn’t missed a start this season, the rust has really started to show in 2020, as Roethlisberger has struggled in the past two games.
In Monday night’s embarrassing loss to the two-win Bengals, Roethlisberger threw for 170 yards, one touchdown, and one pick and looked sluggish all night long. He wasn’t much better in the loss to Buffalo the week before, throwing for under 200 yards again (187) with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Will this be enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to make a change this offseason?
It’s really hard to say what’s next for the Steelers as far as the quarterback position is concerned. On the one hand, Roethlisberger still has two regular-season games left and at least one playoff game to show he’s still up to the task. On the other hand, however, he’s been shaky throughout the season, even when the Steelers were the lone undefeated team in the league.
The Steelers also aren’t in a great position when it comes to landing their next quarterback of the future. They’re going to have to trade a king’s ransom to move up in the 2021 NFL Draft and even then, getting one of those quarterbacks might not be their best move.
Free agency wise, the Steelers could trade for someone like Matthew Stafford, but he’s also in his 30s and nearing the end of his career. It’d be smarter for them to look into a trade for Sam Darnold and let him sit behind Roethlisberger in 2021.
The big thing with Pittsburgh this offseason is that this Steelers defense, when fully healthy, is good enough to make this team a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Making the wrong decision at quarterback could cost them a trip to the sport’s biggest game, but is keeping Ben Roethlisberger the right decision after how poorly he’s played recently?