Over the course of his 18-year career, nobody has arguably liked playing the role of underdog more than Ben Roethlisberger.
Of course, when you've been to three Super Bowls and won two of them, sometimes you have to imagine some of the slights or that underdog status.
But heading into this year's Wild Card playoff game against the Chiefs (12-5), Roethlisberger and the Steelers (9-7-1) don't have to imagine anything. They're 13-point underdogs to the Chiefs, the largest point spread of any of the six playoff games this weekend. Kansas City "smashed" -- in the words of Mike Tomlin on Tuesday -- the Steelers less than a month ago, 36-10, at Arrowhead Stadium.
There's no need to search for the slights. They're staring this team directly in the face.
"We’re probably 20-point underdogs. We’re playing the No. 1 team — I know they’re not the No. 1 seed, but they’re the team that’s won the AFC the last two years," Roethlisberger said Wednesday. "Arguably, they’re the best team in football. We don’t have a chance. So let’s go play and have fun."
The "us-against-the-world" mentality that almost every team in every sport tries to foster isn't hard to find for the Steelers this week. Nobody is giving them a chance.
"I think it’s more of a mentality thing, ‘Hey, what do we have to lose?’ in so many words," said guard Trai Turner, who has played in six playoff games himself. "I think that’s what the message is. I think this is my fourth time in the postseason, so it doesn’t happen all the time. That’s just kind of what I’m conveying to everybody. That’s the motivation you need, that it doesn’t happen all the time. You may get there a few times. You may feel like this will be your first of many. I’m just trying to press that message that you never really know."
Then again, they didn't have much a chance to even get into the playoffs going into last Sunday's Week 18 games. The Steelers needed to beat the Ravens -- who were favored by as many as 5 1/2 points last week -- and then have the Colts, 15-point favorites against the Jaguars, lose their finale. Then, they needed the Sunday night game between the Chargers and Raiders to not end in a tie.
The Steelers took care of their side of things, beating the Ravens, 16-13, in overtime. And the Jaguars easily handled the Colts, 26-11. But the Raiders blew a 15-point second-half lead, as the Chargers took them to overtime, putting a tie in play.
Then, with less than two minutes to play, it appeared the Raiders might simply run out the clock. A tie, after all, put both teams into the postseason and would have left the Steelers on the outside looking in.
But Las Vegas picked up a first down on a running play and Daniel Carlson kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired to send the Steelers to the postseason.
Roethlisberger is playing in his final season. He went from the high of the emotions from winning against the Ravens and seeing the Colts lose, to watching anxiously in overtime to see if he would get at least one more game.
"I wish I would have went to bed instead of staying up and watching it, the stress," Roethlisberger said. "What a crazy game, a crazy ending. You go into the game hoping to get in, then your hopes start to dwindle. You think they're going to play for the tie. But there are other plans out there."
Those plans include trying to find a way to figure out a Chiefs team that had their way with the Steelers Dec. 26.
A good start would include not turning the ball over three times. Roethlisberger threw an early interception in that game. He also lost a fumble late on a slow-developing play deep in Pittsburgh territory in the fourth quarter. Diontae Johnson lost a fumble in the open field while trying to tuck the ball away.
Anything that could have gone wrong in that game did.
And now, in the postseason, mistakes like that will be magnified, a point Roethlisberger is trying to drive home to his younger teammates.
"It is very important that you understand that every play is important. There’s going to be a storm. You have to weather it," Roethlisberger said. "You hope that you’re able to produce a little bit of storm for them, too. It’s just understanding the importance of every play. But it is a fine line to not put too much pressure on yourself. We’re just going to go out and play carefree, and whatever happens, happens."
If it sounds like the Steelers feel they're playing with house money, it's because that seems to be the feeling.
The situation for the Steelers is similar to that of 2005, when the Steelers were beaten 26-7 in a Monday night game in Indianapolis by the Colts in the regular season, then went into the RCA Dome in the playoffs and beat Peyton Manning and company, 21-18, to advance to the AFC Championship.
But that also was a veteran team that had gone to the AFC Championship itself a year before.
"I don’t want to take anything away from this team, but that was a really good football team," Roethlisberger said. "We had some Hall of Famers on it. Not that we don’t have some really good football players. We have a long way to go to compare ourselves to that team in my opinion."
But upsets do happen. And sometimes teams not expected to make any noise in the postseason find a way to do so.
Turner was part of a 2014 Panthers team that snuck into the postseason at 7-8-1 as winners of a depleted NFC South.
Many that season didn't feel the Panthers belonged in the playoffs. Carolina knocked off the 11-5 Cardinals in a Wild Card game before losing at Seattle the following week.
And hey, if a 15-point underdog such as the Jaguars, who had nothing for which to play, can beat the Colts, who had everything to play for, why can't the Steelers win a playoff game as an underdog?
"It’s a new season," Turner said of his message to teammates this week. "Any time you get in the playoffs, it’s a new season. I know that first hand. I try to pass that along to the guys. Things turn up. The speed is a little bit different. The atmosphere, for sure, is different. And the stakes are way bigger. It turns up a lot more."
Nobody is standing in front of the room and making speeches about the Steelers not belonging in the playoffs. Fact is, they are.
What they do with the opportunity is on them. After all, they not only weren't expected to be in the postseason -- analytics gave them a 5 percent chance of doing so before Week 18 -- they aren't supposed to beat the Chiefs, either.
"We haven’t discussed it, but as a group you probably understand that we’re probably not supposed to be here," Roethlisberger said. "Out of 14 teams that are here, we’re probably No. 14. We’re a double-digit underdog in the playoffs, so let’s go have fun and see what happens."
THE INJURY REPORT

PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Najee Harris was held out of practice Wednesday with an elbow injury while Roethlisberger and Arthur Maulet were both limited participants. Dan Moore, Jr. was a full participant after dealing with an ankle injury in recent weeks.