The Steelers have made the playoffs 12 times with Roethlisberger under center, winning the Super Bowl in 2005 and 2008, and reaching it again in 2010. He led the NFL in passing yards twice (2014, 2018) and is a six-time Pro Bowler.
If this is it for Big Ben, what a career it was 💛🖤
⭐ Two-time Super Bowl champ
⭐ 6-time Pro Bowler
⭐ 3rd most 4th quarter comebacks in NFL history
⭐ 5th most wins as starting QB pic.twitter.com/s5nWC0wFIU— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 17, 2022
The Lima, Ohio, native also contemplated retiring after last season before choosing to return for an 18th season. He stressed the important role prayer would play in his decision when asked about his future after losing to the Browns in the playoffs.
“It’s going to start between me and God, a lot of praying,” Roethlisberger said at the time. “And then a lot of it is talking with my family — discussions, decisions … There will be a lot of discussions, but now is not the time for that.”
Roethlisberger has become much more vocal about his faith the last few years, something Steelers team chaplain Kent Chevalier attributes at least in part to the season-ending elbow injury Roethlisberger suffered in Week 2 of the 2019 season. That is the only time in his career Roethlisberger failed to appear in at least 12 games.
The QB evolved into one of the team’s spiritual leaders, sharing his testimony with teammates and other members of the Steelers organization at the end of the 2019 regular season. He talked about growing up in a Christian home and not pursuing his faith while in college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
The 39-year-old also spoke at the annual ManUp Conference in 2020, which is usually held in Pittsburgh but was virtual due to the pandemic.
RELATED: Pittsburgh Steelers QB Wants to Be a Better Christian Than Athlete
“Three years ago I got baptized,” Roethlisberger said during the conference. “I was baptized as a kid; my parents took me as a baby. But I didn’t make that decision. So three years ago now I made the decision to be baptized because I felt like I needed to do that. I wanted to have a closer walk, a better relationship with Jesus, with my wife, with my kids, with my family — become a better person.
“So I think the person that brought me to Him was Jesus. Jesus is the One who brought me back to Him, and I’m so thankful for it because I feel I’m a better Christian, a better husband and a better father today because of His forgiveness of me.”
If his playing career is over, Roethlisberger ends it fifth in NFL history in completions (5,440) and passing yards (64,088), and eighth in passing touchdowns (418).
