30 greatest NFL QBs of all time: Where does Patrick Mahomes rank now?

Here comes another surprise. Pittsburgh Steelers will not be happy to see Ben Roethlisberger where he’s at on this list. Big Ben was really good during his long time in the NFL, but he falls just short of the top 20 when it comes to the greats of any era. Roethlisberger has all the pure numbers. He is fifth all-time in passing yards. The fact that he’s eighth in touchdowns kind of shows why he falls down the list, but let’s focus on the positives first.

Roethlisberger was exactly what the Steelers needed at the perfect time. He didn’t make a ton of mistakes for most of his career. He won the Rookie of the Year after that famous 2004 NFL Draft (beating out Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Larry Fitzgerald). Not only did he win, but he was unanimous after winning the first 15 regular season starts of his career.

Just like Mike Tomlin, Roethlisberger is a winner. He has two seasons where he had a losing record out of 18, and one of those seasons he only played two games. The Steelers had great defenses, but Roethlisberger had to still be very good to get the teams where they got. He was in a conference with Brady, Peyton Manning, and many other greats. He was still able to win two Super Bowls.

Okay, let’s get just slightly negative. Roethlisberger is not a top-20 quarterback. He had some pretty seriously bad Super Bowl performances, and he needed to be bailed out by his skill players and defenses. He also has some bad head-to-head records against his most famous opponents. He went 3-9 against Tom Brady, including the playoffs. He also had losing records against Manning (although he did beat him in the playoffs on his most famous tackle). Still, Ben was one of the best of his era.