The Pittsburgh Steelers have no doubt been lucky enough to have two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger not only gave fans great memories, but six Super Bowl rings, as well as many other accolades. Most people consider both to be within the top 10 greatest quarterbacks of all-time, but with NFL's Gregg Rosenthal's 2023 list of all-time Super Bowl QB's, he begs to differ.
USA Today
When looking into this, you have to take into account how Rosenthal puts his rankings into judgment:
"I ranked all quarterbacks based on career achievements, with regular-season excellence, All-Pro/Pro Bowl appearances and seasons as top-five and top-10 players at the position carrying more weight than just Super Bowl success."
With Rosenthal stating that he looked more into other statistics than just a player's Super Bowl success, you would think that you would see one or two Steelers within the top 10. According to Rosenthal, Rothlisberger ranked 15th and Bradshaw ranked 17th. A very disrespectful ranking to two Steeler greats.
One of the players I look at ahead of both Roethlisberger and Bradshaw is Fran Tarkenton. Now no disrespect at all to Tarkenton, but to have him over these two greats is laughable. Not only was Tarkenton 0-3 in his Super Bowl appearances, but one of his losses was to Bradshaw and the Steelers. Comparing awards, the two are similar. Roethlisberger statically had a better career than Tarkenton, with more Super Bowl wins and a hefty number of accolades.
Walter Looss Jr. / SI
Some of the other quarterbacks ranked ahead of Roethlisberger and Bradshaw included Patrick Mahomes, Roger Staubach, and Bart Starr. Mahomes is a great young quarterback, no doubt, but has he done enough to be considered better than Bradshaw and Roethlisberger at just the age of 27? Staubach has as many rings as Roethlisberger, but can you compare the two careers? With Rosenthal stating that he is looking at more than just Super Bowl wins, is Staubach then really better than Bradshaw and Roethlisberger? For Starr, I get that he is the original Super Bowl Champion, and you give him respect for that, but as a career, it is almost laughable to say he's better than both Steelers legends.
Bradshaw's career was something spectacular and for him to not be considered within the top 10 at least seems disrespectful. A four-time Super Bowl Champion, two-time Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP, two-time NFL Passing Leader, and much more to be considered the 17th greatest Quarterback to play in a Super Bowl is foolish. Rosenthal's reasoning for the ranking:
"Bradshaw wasn't great in the seasons preceding his first two Super Bowl triumphs (1975-76), but he wound up being a league MVP (in 1978) and finishing in the top five in yards per attempt five times."
Roethlisberger's career during a time with some of the top quarterbacks of all-time going against him makes me wonder why he ranks at 15. He has the fifth most passing yards all-time with 64,088. For an achievement like this when going against quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and more, to place him at 15th just doesn't seem right. Rosenthal's explanation for Roethlisberger's ranking:
"Roethlisberger was a top-five quarterback for the better part of his career, especially after his second Super Bowl triumph (following the 2008 season). I'm not going to ding him for not being Brady in his late 30's."
Matthew Sunday
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7)
Bradshaw and Roethlisberger are not the first Steelers to be disrespected for their talents. Think of TJ Watt, after three great seasons, he was finally awarded a Defensive Player of the Year Award last year. Or look at this year with Alex Highsmith not getting consideration for the Pro Bowl this year.
It may just be the Steelers fan in me, but Bradshaw and Roethlisberger's rankings in this latest NFL list definitely could be better. What do you think, should these two Steeler greats be ranked higher? Let me know in the comments below!
#SteelerNation
