Ben Roethlisberger hugely disappointed on Steelers’ lack of accountability and leadership, questions future of team tradition

Ben Roethlisberger has a career passer rating of 93.5.

Ben Roethlisberger hugely disappointed on Steelers’ lack of accountability and leadership, questions future of team tradition

Ben Roethlisberger (via Imago)

The Pittsburgh Steelers are having a weird season. They haven’t been a great team, and yet they have a winning record of 7-6. They have struggled on offense this season as opponents have held them to under 20 points in their last four games. 

The Steelers lost their last two games against two of the worst teams in the league, the Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots. 

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Their latest defeat came against the Patriots last Thursday. They lost the game 21-18 as the Steelers slipped to 7-6 for the season. Their former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, called out the Steelers for a lack of leadership and poor offensive performance after the Patriots game.

He opened up about his former team on his podcast, ‘Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.’

Maybe the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is done. Who is grabbing someone by the face mask and saying, 'That's not what we do.' Is that happening? Yes, you have guys on defense doing it, but you need guys on other sides of the ball doing it. ... You need someone to stand up in that room, on offense, and be like, hey, this isn't what it means to wear the black and gold.
Roethlisberger said
This isn't what has been handed down from those teams of the '70s. The Steel Curtain, the four Super Bowls, the Nolls, the Bradshaws, the Blounts. All those people, it's unbelievable. It just feels like that's something that's been lost on this team. I've felt that certain guys on the team aren't in it for the team, they're in it for themselves. Well, now some of the guys on the team are saying the same thing.
He further continued

The Steelers have a great defense, but their offense has struggled throughout the season. They are ranked 27th in the NFL in total offense and have already fired their OC, Matt Canada, in the middle of the season. They are still in the playoff race but will have to finish the season strongly to get into the postseason.

Ben Roethlisberger calls out Mike Tomlin for mismanaging the game against the Patriots

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent game against the New England Patriots ended in defeat for them by 3 points. During the game, the Steelers’ HC, Mike Tomlin, had to call some early timeouts to organize his team.

That left him without any timeouts during the later stages of the game, and that resulted in the Steelers’ loss. The Steelers’ former QB, Ben Roethlisberger, criticized Tomlin for his mismanagement of the game.

Ben Roethlisberger (L) and Mike Tomlin (R)
Ben Roethlisberger (L) and Mike Tomlin (R) (L/R – via Imago)
You can't afford in the second half of games to burn silly timeouts and to not have them late in the game. To me, that's bad coaching. There's some feel you have to have in those situations because timeouts can be so valuable, as we saw in this game.
Roethlisberger said

Roethlisberger played under Tomlin for 15 years and won one Super Bowl. He retired from professional football in 2021 with the Steelers. Roethlisberger was a six-time Pro Bowler and was named the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2004.

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