The Career of Ben Roethlisberger

Ben Roethlisberger, known as Big Ben to most NFL fans, might’ve just played his last game at Heinz Field last night.

The 39-year-old quarterback was born on March 2nd, 1982 in Lima, Ohio. He attended Findlay High School in Ohio where he was the captain of the football, basketball, and baseball teams. Although Big Ben only got the starting quarterback job his senior year of high school, he managed to make the most of it as he led his high school team to the regional semifinals of the 1999 OHSAA Division I playoffs while setting several school records along the way. He didn’t break the school’s passing records, he demolished them. The previous school record for career touchdown passes was 27. Ben surpassed this mark when he threw for 54 touchdowns in just one season. The record for yards in a season was 1,772. Ben threw for 4,100 yards. The most touchdown passes in a game was three. He threw eight touchdowns in one game. Some may say that breaking high school records is no big deal, but Ben’s record-breaking ways continued as he earned the opportunity to play division one football at Miami University located in Oxford, Ohio.

At Miami University, Big Ben started as a redshirt freshman and broke the school single-game passing record with 399 passing yards. He went on to finish his freshman year with 3,105 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and 241 completions. After having a better sophomore season where he set the Miami single-season record with 3,238 passing yards and 271 completions, he went on to have an even better junior season where he totaled 342 completions for 4,486 yards, and 37 touchdowns in 14 games while breaking the school’s single-season records in all categories. His jersey No.7 was later retired in 2007.

After his dominating three years in college, Big Ben decided to forego his senior season to declare for the 2004 NFL Draft where he was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 11th overall pick. The season before drafting Roethlisberger, the Steelers went a disappointing 6-10, but they were optimistic that Ben would be able to make an instant impact and help the team get back on track. He did just that.

Big Ben led the Steelers to a 15-1 record, and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game in his rookie season, where they lost to the Patriots 27-41. He was later named the Rookie of the Year.

In his second season, he helped the Steelers win the 2006 Super Bowl by defeating the Seahawks by the score of 21–10, becoming the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl ring. The city of Pittsburgh began to fall in love with Big Ben after just two seasons, and the love only grew stronger with continued success.

The Steelers returned to the Super Bowl again in 2009, where Ben led the Steelers to one of the most dramatic victories in Super Bowl history against the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers took an early 10-0 lead in the 2nd quarter and went into halftime up 17-7. Pittsburgh added to their lead at the end of the 3rd quarter with a 21-yard field goal to make it a 20-7 game. This is when things got interesting as the Cardinals scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. The Steelers answered with an improbable drive to win the game that ended with Ben Roethlisberger’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds left. This helped Pittsburgh secure a 27-23 victory over the Cardinals. Overall, Roethlisberger finished 21 of 30 for 256 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Steelers franchise had now won their sixth Lombardi Trophy and their second with Big Ben.

Roethlisberger had continued success throughout his career and played all 18 seasons of his career with the Steelers, winning two Super Bowls, breaking many Steelers records, and continuously setting new career highs along the way.

Big Ben has had a legendary career, and to think that he might’ve just played the last home game of his career last night is a tough pill to swallow. Last night, Roethlisberger and the Steelers earned a 26-14 win against the Browns in an emotion-filled game where Ben totaled 24 completions for 123 yards and one touchdown. After the game, Ben spoke on the game and his career:

“The story of my career: not always pretty but we found a way”

Ben Roethlisberger

Before returning to the locker room, Roethlisberger jogged a victory lap around the field gifting high fives to the fans who supported him throughout his career.

Big Ben Roethlisberger is a name that you will definitely see on Hall of Fame ballots within the next few years as he will go down as a legend in Steelers history.