Roethlisberger: 'I’m hopeful that I’m able to pass the legacy' taken in Kansas City, Mo. (Steelers)

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Ben Roethlisberger walks off the field at Arrowhead Stadium after Sunday night's playoff loss to the Chiefs.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- There were some regular end-of-season emotions from the Steelers at the conclusion of the team's 42-21 defeat at the hands of the Chiefs here at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday night in an AFC Wild Card game.

But there was nobody denying that this was, in fact, the final game in Ben Roethlisberger's storied career.

Once again, Roethlisberger didn't make an "official" announcement. That will come when he feels the time is right. But nobody was denying the 39-year-old has played his final NFL game -- including Roethlisberger.

"I’ve been here a long time, and it’s been a long time," Roethlisberger said. "God has blessed me. We joke a lot about the Browns, and me going there. But it was meant to be that I was going to wear black and gold. On draft day, I had a black suit with a gold tie. I’m just so thankful. I’m hopeful that I’m able to pass the legacy of what it is to be a Steeler, from Dan Rooney — we all miss him — and hopefully I could pass some of that along to the guys, the tradition and what it means to be a Steeler."

He said that role -- handed down from Jerome Bettis to Troy Polamalu to Brett Keisel and others -- now falls onto longtime defensive captain Cam Heyward.

"Once you start to lose the old regime, if you will, you’ve got to find a way to pass it down," Roethlisberger said. "We’ve got some guys in there that will continue to do that. I gave Cam a big hug and told him it’s on him now. It’s his job to pass it down and keep teaching and hold guys to the Pittsburgh standard."

Roethlisberger has been a part of that longer than anyone else in team history.

Let the record show that his final pass in the NFL was an 11-yard completion to tight end Zach Gentry on the last play against the Chiefs.

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His 18 seasons played with the franchise are the most in team history. And even Heyward, who has been with the Steelers since 2011, can't imagine what the team will look like without Roethlisberger at the helm.

"Ever since I got here, we had a guy in 7 who gave you a chance," Heyward said. "You started the season saying, 'That’s a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.' There’s not a lot of quarterbacks who can do what he does and do it at a high level. Starting next year, we’ll see."

The Steelers will likely turn things over to longtime backup Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins and perhaps another mid-level veteran or rookie.

Roethlisberger completed 29 of 44 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns in his final playoff appearance, the 23rd of a career that began in 2004 as a first-round draft pick out of Miami (Ohio). He finishes his career with a 13-10 record in the postseason, a win total that is tied with Brett Favre for fourth-most in NFL history.

This latest run in his final season was not necessarily expected -- at least not going into the final weeks of the season. The Steelers were 7-7-1 just a few weeks ago after losing to the Chiefs and then won their final two games to get to 9-7-1.

They then got the help needed to sneak into the postseason as the No. 7 seed, getting Roethlisberger one final playoff game.

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"We thought last week was going to be the end. Didn’t know what was going to happen and got blessed to play another football game. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to," Roethlisberger said. "I try to tell those guys, a lot, how lucky are we that we get to play football for a living. We need to count our blessings and understand how lucky we are. Yeah, we’re out there getting beaten up. But we get to entertain millions of fans ... we get to do what we did as kids. That’s our job."

At least it was.

Now, Roethlisberger will become a full-time father to his three children.

"I’m nervous," he joked. "No, I am excited, just because I get to go home tonight. We’ve got snow, so the kids are already planning on tubing and sledding. Being a husband and a father, you never get to take a day off, you’ve got to keep going. As you move from one chapter to the next, it’s going to be different, but it’s going to be fun, and I’m looking forward to it."

Even if the Steelers aren't necessarily looking forward to life without their franchise quarterback.

They've gone through this before in the aftermath of Terry Bradshaw's retirement in 1983. It took the franchise more than two decades to find Roethlisberger.

They just hope it doesn't take nearly as long to find the next.

But they're appreciative of the ride, one that took the franchise to three Super Bowls and two world championships.

"Man, he was 7," Mike Tomlin said of Roethlisberger's efforts Sunday night. "It’s been an honor and a pleasure. I don’t have the words."

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