The Pittsburgh Steelers have plenty of great memories with former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He is projected to be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer thanks to his two Super Bowl victories and countless amazing performances, with both good and bad offenses around him. The team knew that it always had a chance against any team in the NFL as long as he was leading the offense on the field. In fact, Pittsburgh is still looking for a passer to fill the large shoes that he left behind when he retired after the 2021 season.
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Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger waves to fans as he walks off the Kansas City Chiefs home turf.
Not only was there confidence that he could win any game, but he was also seen as the favorite to win some very specific games. While making an appearance on The Pump Fake, former Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley explained what those kinds of games were and why the Steelers had so much faith in Roethlisberger when it happened.
"Ben [Roethlisberger] fit that mold perfectly of a guy that could play in back-then Heinz Field: weather, wind, all the different things," Haley said. "Big, rugged guy. I was always amazed by Ben in whatever the conditions were -- practice or game -- because the size of his hands and strength, just amazing how well he could throw the ball in bad weather. We called him a 'mudder': the muddier and worse it got, usually the better he was...we said, 'Bring on bad weather because we know our quarterback will play better in it more times than not.'"
In numerous cases, a team has to deal with very undesirable weather conditions if it wants to make the Super Bowl. That is especially the case in the AFC, where the top teams are almost always ones that play in the cold. To make it to the ideal conditions of the big game, you usually need to go through places like Kansas City, Denver, Baltimore, Buffalo, and New England. If you can't handle it, your season is over.
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Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card game against the Bills has been moved once due to weather but finally things look like they are ready to go
That's where having a guy like Roethlisberger was a massive advantage for the Steelers. He grew up in Ohio and played his entire professional career in Pittsburgh. Terrible weather was something that he was very used to. There were a few instances when the conditions did affect him, as he wasn't perfect. However, having him under center for those contests was normally better than having almost anyone else.
Roethlisberger had to perform in poor conditions in the postseason to get to his Super Bowl appearances. In 2008 and 2010, both games leading up to the big one were played at home. However, his team had all road games up to Super Bowl XL, including a game in Cincinnati in the Wild Card Round, and then one in Denver for the AFC Championship Game. He battled the cold well and actually did worse in the comfortable conditions.
Steelers Are Looking For That Type Of Quarterback
For many years now, the Steelers have been outright atrocious in bad weather games. Whenever rain or snow has been a factor since Roethlisberger retired, it has felt like the team shuts down, especially in big moments. That has also been the case whenever they played teams that are not used to poor conditions like the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers offense during snow-bowl against the Cleveland Browns in 2024.
In fact, the Steelers have started putting more of an emphasis on drafting Big 10 players due to the fact that they deal with these conditions more often than teams in the SEC. On top of that, it seems like new Head Coach Mike McCarthy is looking for a Roethlisberger-type quarterback based on his recent comments: specifically, one built like how Haley described his signal-caller.
What do you think about Roethlisberger being praised as an amazing bad-weather quarterback? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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