The narrative for some coming out of the Steelers' stunning 27-17 loss to the Bengals last Monday night is that Ben Roethlisberger is washed up, no longer capable of playing at a high level.
That ignores the fact that with two games still remaining in the season, he has thrown for 3,462 yards with 30 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions. But there's little argument from even Roethlisberger that his game against the Bengals was not a good one.
Roethlisberger completed just seven of his first 16 passes for 19 yards with an interception against the Bengals as the Steelers lost their third-straight game to fall to 11-3 heading into their game Sunday at Heinz Field against the Colts (10-4).
But Roethlisberger is the same player who directed this team to 11 straight wins, throwing 25 touchdown passes against six interceptions, as he has been the past three weeks, when the Steelers struggled to score points and he accounted for five touchdowns and four interceptions.
He also understands the criticism that has been thrown his way.
"I don’t blame them. When you play like poo, you should get talked about like that," Roethlisberger said Wednesday. "I need to play better. If I’m not giving them a reason to talk good, then I’m giving them a reason to talk badly. That’s all on me. I need to play better."
The question remains, is he capable?
History shows that many aging quarterbacks who play their games primarily outdoors in harsh elements struggle in December to throw the ball. Case in point:
Quarterback A at age 38 had 36 touchdown passes and nine interceptions in September, October and November in 12 games. In December, he had three touchdowns and six interceptions in four.
Quarterback B in 2019 completed 64.7 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns while throwing for 2,251 yards in September and October. In November and December over his final eight starts, he completed 57.5 percent of his passes for just 1,806 yards.
Quarterback C at age 38 completed 65.8 percent of his passes in September for 1,205 yards with eight touchdown passes and two interceptions, a passer rating of 97.3. In December, he completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 743 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. He started four games in both months.
Quarterback D at age 38 completed 66.9 percent of his passes for 777 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception in three starts, a passer rating of 105.2. In December, he completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 928 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions, a passer rating of 74.4 in four games.
Quarterback A is Peyton Manning.
Quarterback B is Tom Brady.
Quarterback C is Brett Favre.
Quarterback D is Roethlisberger this season.
So, it's not unusual for older quarterbacks to tail off toward the end of a season, even very good ones.
Overall arm strength and their ability to spin the ball in adverse weather conditions can be a factor.
But over his career, weather has never seemed to bother Roethlisberger. His career passer rating in December is 92.3, slightly better than that of his 91.6 passer rating in the month of September in his career. Manning's September-December passer rating splits were 98.6-99.4, Brady's 97.0-92.9 and Favre 89.2-85.5.
That, however, can be explained by the fact Manning spent most of his career playing indoors in Indianapolis before signing with Denver for his final four seasons. Brady has played outdoors his entire career, while Favre did, as well, save one season in Minnesota.
For Roethlisberger, weather has never been a major factor.
Slow starts to games, however, have been -- at least this season.
Roethlisberger is completing just 58.3 percent of his passes for 616 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in first quarters this season. That's a span of 14 quarters, which equals 3 1/2 games.
In the second quarter of games, he's completing 66.5 percent of his passes for 1,280 yards with 14 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
Blame whomever or whatever you'd like for the slow starts, whether that be dropped passes, poor starts by Roethlisberger or even the play scripting from Randy Fichtner. But the fact remains, that's something that has to change.
The Steelers scored on their opening drive in four of their first seven games, posting 20 points. In their past seven, they have not only failed to score, they have just four first downs, none in the past four games. So much for starting fast.
"It feels like it’s something different every week," Roethlisberger said. "It’s hard to really nail down one thing, but it’s something that’s very important to us and we need to get fixed now."
Mike Tomlin agrees. Whether it's the game plan, the execution or just plain sloppiness, the Steelers need to clean it all up.
But largely, they need better play from their quarterback.
"We have to drill it, drill it. We have to position people to make plays. We have to put together better plans. We have to work those plans, we have to play those plans out better in stadiums and particularly more quickly as it pertains to the beginning stages," Tomlin said. "And really, it is as simple as that. Simple in words, difficult, obviously, to do."
Difficult, but not impossible.
In each of the aforementioned seasons by Manning, Favre and Brady, they might not have been at their best in December, but they picked things up well enough in the postseason to help their teams win.
Manning won the Super Bowl in 2015, leading the Broncos to three-straight wins, including beating the Steelers in a Divisional game. To be clear, he wasn't great in those games, but he made the throws that were necessary when they were needed.
Favre got the Packers past the Seahawks in the Divisional Round before losing to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Giants in the NFC Championship.
And Brady, at age 38, lost to Manning and the Broncos in the AFC Championship.
There is still a feeling within the organization he is nowhere near done.
"That’s not something that I am anticipating so I don’t know that I am sitting around waiting on it," Tomlin said when asked how he would know when Roethlisberger is done. "I guess we will cross that bridge if and when we come to it."
Roethlisberger isn't at that point, either, not after being a major reason why the team won 11 straight games earlier in the year.
But he also knows he can't do it alone He's not the Superman he was earlier in his career.
"You know what, at some point if you want to play this game long enough when you physically can’t do all the exact things that you do when you’re younger, you have to find a way to be successful and win in other ways," Roethlisberger said. "For me, it’s trying to be mentally strong, trying to figure out mentally how can I beat a defense or a play. There’s been times where I feel like it’s been really good. There have been times where I haven’t been sharp mentally. I need to be more consistent with my play. That’s mentally and physically. I think when I play good football, mentally and physically, hopefully that will trickle down to everyone else."
The Steelers owe Roethlisberger a $15 million roster bonus in March and though his base salary is just $4 million, his salary cap hit is $41.25 million in 2021 thanks to the team restructuring his contract last spring to free up some cap space.
So, the team has put itself in this position with Roethlisberger. But based on his body of work, the number of games he's won and the three Super Bowls to which he has guided the franchise, winning two, he'll go out on his own terms.
Though he has consistently said he intends to play out the terms of his current contract, the Steelers could be willing to talk extension with him again this offseason, not only because it would help create cap space in 2021, but because it feels he can still play the game at a high level.
"I’ve played with Ben when he’s been really good and when he’s not played his best game, but with Ben, we’ve been in situations where we can come back and put points on the board," JuJu Smith-Schuster said. "Everyone’s not perfect."
Roethlisberger has done that with this team three times this season, leading the Steelers to fourth-quarter comebacks. That gives him 34 such games in his career, which is tied with Johnny Unitas for fourth-most in the NFL since 1960.
He's just going through a rough couple of games, as every quarterback does. Two months into the season, Russell Wilson was being talked about as a leading candidate for the league MVP award until throwing seven interceptions during a four-game stretch that saw the Seahawks lose three of four.
Did anyone think the 32-year-old Wilson was done? Nope. Most quarterbacks go through a bad stretch of play here and there.
His counterpart Sunday, Phillip Rivers threw 23 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions last season at age 38 for the Chargers, who released him at season's end. Rivers has 22 touchdown passes and nine interceptions this season with the Colts.
Truly, the only person who will really know when Roethlisberger is finished is Roethlisberger.
"I guess the best answer I can give you is you’ll feel it," Roethlisberger said. "I haven’t felt that yet, so I guess that’s a positive, as well."