For 18 seasons, Ben Roethlisberger provided the Pittsburgh Steelers with high-level quarterback play. He came in and instantly elevated them, eventually leading them to two Super Bowl victories. Roethlisberger spent his entire NFL career with the Steelers, which is special. Franchise quarterbacks being one-helmet guys is getting rarer and rarer. However, Roethlisberger recently revealed that he could’ve player for another team during his final NFL season.
“At the end of my career, I had a chance to go play somewhere else, and I chose not to,” Roethlisberger said Friday on the Sports Spectrum podcast. “I chose to go back to Pittsburgh, one last year, because I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.
“Eighteen years with one team, it felt too special. It killed me, I was a Joe Montana guy, to think of him with the Chiefs, or those guys that went to other teams, it’s like, ‘No, don’t do that.'”
It’s unclear what team Roethlisberger could’ve played for, but it wasn’t enough to draw him away from Pittsburgh. After the 2020 season, the Steelers restructured Roethlisberger’s contract. That helped keeping Roethlisberger make more financial sense. If the two sides hadn’t come to that agreement, though, Roethlisberger could’ve been playing somewhere else in 2021.
While much of Roethlisberger’s talents were sapped for the 2021 season, it was still good for him to go on a farewell tour. He got to best his AFC North rivals one last time, putting a nice cap on his Hall of Fame career.
It would’ve been strange seeing Roethlisberger in another uniform, too. In that same situation, not many quarterbacks have made the same decision that Roethlisberger did. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, and Matt Ryan all played for multiple teams in their careers. While some of them saw more success than others, it still felt like they should’ve been with one team throughout their career.
However, the Steelers aren’t like other organizations. They prioritize taking care of their own players. They usually try their hardest to keep the best of the best, such as Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu, in Pittsburgh for their entire career, too.
While Roethlisberger didn’t end his career with another championship, he seems at peace with how things went. Roethlisberger has shared in the past that he could’ve come out of retirement to play for a different team. However, he didn’t have the urge to get back on the field. He’s happily on to the next chapter of his life. One day, he’ll be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Pittsburgh Steeler lifer, as it should be.
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