The Pittsburgh Steelers are betting the house on a past-his-prime Aaron Rodgers, signing the veteran quarterback to a one-year deal just a week ago. Rodgers was long linked to the Steelers this offseason, with his other, most realistic option likely being retirement. Rodgers still has that fire in him, and his friendship with Mike Tomlin paid dividends in the end. However, Steelers fans frustrated with yet another short-term quarterback solution need not look any further than their last franchise signal-caller as to why they're stuck in this predicament. Yes, even this is Ben Roethlisberger's fault.
Roethlisberger put the Steelers in this situation. Let me explain. Roethlisberger is undoubtedly the best quarterback in franchise history – sorry Terry Bradshaw – but because of his standing with the franchise, he held all the leverage near the end of his career. Roethlisberger suffered a catastrophic elbow injury in his third-to-last season in 2019-20. He was never the same after, and Pittsburgh ought to have seen that coming. Instead, they stuck with Big Ben in 2020, refusing to take one of the many star-caliber quarterbacks that April. For those who need a reminder, that list included Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts.
While all five of those quarterbacks have their own flaws – and only Hurts has won a Super Bowl – it's an inarguable point that Pittsburgh would rather have any of the aforementioned passers than a 42-year-old Rodgers. So, why didn't the Steelers take a gamble on any of those players? Sure, trading into the top of the draft to take the likes of Burrow, Tua or Herbert would've taken a lot of capital. However, Love and Hurts were there for the Steelers if they had been interested at the time.
Steelers are running a familiar experiment with a different player
As Mike DeFabo recounted in his Rodgers piece in The Athletic, the Steelers convinced themselves that Roethlisberger – even if not the same player post-elbow injury – could lead one of the strongest defenses in the NFL to glory. They were wrong.
"When Roethlisberger returned in 2020, everyone knew he wasn’t the same. But the Steelers convinced themselves he wouldn’t need to be, with a now-complete defense supporting him. If T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward and Fitzpatrick could nearly lift Duck Hodges to the playoffs, what could they do with Big Ben?...It was fool’s gold," DeFabo wrote.
Rather than selecting a quarterback with a first-round grade in 2020, the Steelers reached for Kenny Pickett in 2022. That experiment failed miserably, as Pickett was eventually traded to Philadelphia. Outside of Pickett, the Steelers have taken chances on Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and now Rodgers. The first two experiments didn't work out. Are we really expected to believe in Rodgers?
Ben Roethlisberger's presence stopped Steelers from finding QB of the future
Roethlisberger did not respond well when the Steelers took quarterback Mason Rudolph in the third round back in 2018. Big Ben has routinely stated he had nothing against Rudolph in particular, but thought the Steelers should've used that pick to build around a strong, veteran-laden roster rather than build for the future. Rudolph has hinted that Roethlisberger never helped him grow, and went out of the way to sabotage his development.
The correct answer is likely somewhere in the middle, but was definitely enough to sway Pittsburgh away from finding Roethlisberger's heir-apparent in 2020. If there were ever a year to take a chance and force Roethlisberger to swallow his pride, it was then. Instead, Kevin Colbert pivoted elsewhere.
The Steelers current quarterback problem isn't solely on Roethlisberger – to make such an argument would be a reach. However, it certainly dates back to the days when Roethlisberger ran the show. Much like the Green Bay Packers did with Rodgers in 2020, finding the next quarterback solution with a Hall of Famer on the roster is worth the risk, even if it leads to some friction.
Pittsburgh failed to do that, and they've been searching for their next Roethlisberger ever since.