Banged-up Big Ben Expected to Give Steelers Another Year

You would think an 11-2 football team would be doing little except celebrating its success, but it has been sort of a roller coaster ride for Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Not a bad ride, mind you. Just one where they've lost two straight entering Monday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Before that, Big Ben and the Steelers had some nice moments, but were hardly dominant. They just won, baby. And that's been Roethlisberger's forte.

He's not always pretty, but he wins. And according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Roethlisberger has every intention of returning in 2021. That's big news because Roethlisberger has one year left on his contract, and there had been talk he might just walk away from the sport.

Roethlisberger, 38, is in his 17th season. He has made a career of holding onto the ball for a long time and taking the punishment before delivering a crucial pass. It's led to lots of winning, but it has also taken quite a toll. A recent CBS report even suggested the Steelers are fairly concerned with Roethlisberger's lingering knee issue.

But Roethlisberger is still out there, still making things happen, despite having lost some arm strength and throwing a career-low 6.3 yards per pass attempt. And we've all seen the Steelers without him. Nothing good has ever come of it.

Schefter reported that Steelers fans need not fret, though, as Big Ben "is having too much fun and likes his team too much to walk away from it after the 2020 season."