In retirement, Ben Roethlisberger has no problem criticising his long-time team. The two-time Super Bowl champion didn’t hold back after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 21-18 loss to the New England Patriots on Thursday.
“Perhaps the Pittsburgh Steelers’ legacy is over,” he remarked in a Monday audio episode of “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.”
The 41-year-old had several complaints about the team’s defeat in Week 14. He began by dissecting the team’s attempt to rally in the second half without using any timeouts at all.
Roethlisberger played for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin from 2007 to 2021 before retiring in 2022. However, Roethlisberger continued to target Tomlin despite their previous relationship.
“You can’t afford in the second half of games to burn silly timeouts and to not have them late in the game,” Roethlisberger stated. “To me, that’s bad coaching.”
He continued by sharing his thoughts on how the match ought to have been run:
Roethlisberger is unfamiliar with the Steelers’ present situation. In his eighteen seasons with Pittsburgh, he never had a losing season and was a part of three Super Bowls. After the setback last week, which came after a loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Steelers are at 7-6.
Pittsburgh’s team has been displaying a lot of verbal and physical fury both on and off the pitch, despite their offensive struggles. It appears like Roethlisberger believes the problem stems from a lack of leadership in the locker room.
Safety and All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick has voiced his dissatisfaction with the Steelers’ performance this season. He reportedly got into a furious argument with Diontae Johnson following a loss to the
Cleveland Browns, before telling his teammates to “look in the mirror” following the Patriots game. Johnson had to confront his seeming lack of effort during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
George Pickens, a wide receiver, is clearly frustrated on the pitch, and Mike Tomlin acknowledged on Monday that this has become “a problem.” There’s a lot of stuff that goes around that you guys don’t see, running back Najee Harris said in a derogatory statement regarding the offence last month. I’m simply sick and weary of this at this point.
