We’re less than a week from Super Bowl XLIII and Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is already in the pro football Hall of Fame.Well, almost – he’s as good as in. There are many reasons people are citing as evidence that he’s a lock for the HOF, none of which are valid. Not yet anyway. ESPN is beating the drum and CBSSports.com writer Clark Judge is positively giddy over it.
The simple fact is the sports media and Hall of Fame voters love them some Pittsburgh Steelers. And if you’re a sports writer, how can you not? The Steelers are a storied, successful franchise. They are the face of the NFL. But sports writers also love hyping and overanalyzing teams in the here-and-now. They want to feel like they are watching greatness unfold right in front of their faces every day. It’s ESPN’s daily spasm to declare anything and everything that happened last night in sports “the best ever!”
The term dynasty has been bandied about and if the Steelers win on Sunday, the sporting press will find a way to label “Big Ben” and the Steelers as such. Let’s suppose for a moment the Steelers do win and the pro-Bennies explode into a Hall of Fame chorus. This is what they’ll tell you (full disclosure: I'm still pissed about Super Bowl XL):
- He’s won two Super Bowls
- He has a winning percentage over 70
- He’s 8-2 in the playoffs
- He made the pro bowl in 2007, throwing 32 touchdown passes
- Yards per attempt – 7.9 and tied for seventh all time (entering the Super Bowl).
- Ninth all time in career passer rating.
During this argument the pro-Bennies always seem to forget one important thing. The Pittsburgh Steelers play lights out, shut-down, blow snot bubbles defense. A strong case could be made that the team wins in spite of their quarterback not because of him. In the five years he’s played, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense has been the No. 1 ranked defense three times. In 2005, they were ranked fourth and in ’06 they were ninth.
In any case, it’s way too early to punch his ticket now. That Super Bowl XL ring wasn’t earned because of Roethlisberger. He was 9 of 21 with two picks and a 22.6 passer rating in that Super Bowl. This season he wasn’t even in the top ten in passer rating, threw 15 picks, led the league in fumbles with 14 and was sacked 46 times (second in the league). He’s turned the ball over by fumble or interception 93 times in five seasons. He’s led a top 10 ranked offense only once - No. 7 in 2006 - but otherwise is a caretaker for middle of the pack offenses.
If Roethlisberger has a huge game in the Super Bowl and puts up better than average numbers in the years to come, he’ll probably be in. This is all fun to debate, but I’ll wait to see how his numbers even out as his career winds down.
In any case, it’s way too early to punch his ticket now. That Super Bowl XL ring wasn’t earned because of Roethlisberger. He was 9 of 21 with two picks and a 22.6 passer rating in that Super Bowl. This season he wasn’t even in the top ten in passer rating, threw 15 picks, led the league in fumbles with 14 and was sacked 46 times (second in the league). He’s turned the ball over by fumble or interception 93 times in five seasons. He’s led a top 10 ranked offense only once - No. 7 in 2006 - but otherwise is a caretaker for middle of the pack offenses.
If Roethlisberger has a huge game in the Super Bowl and puts up better than average numbers in the years to come, he’ll probably be in. This is all fun to debate, but I’ll wait to see how his numbers even out as his career winds down.
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