Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger Was 'Stuck In A Generation' Of Elite Players That Overshadowed Him

The Pittsburgh Steelers have a long history of tremendous players at nearly every position across nearly every decade. One of the greatest is none other than future Hall of Fame quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. However, he has always been a polarizing name when people would discuss where he belongs amongst the all-time NFL greats. 

On Wednesday during his podcast, Chris Simms Unbuttoned, Chris Simms led off the episode, which was to discuss his top 40 ranking for the current NFL quarterbacks, by talking about Roethlisberger and just how great he was. It was sort of a weird way to start an episode that was intended to talk about current quarterback rankings, as Roethlisberger has been retired for two seasons now. It definitely gives Steeler Nation an outside perspective from a former NFL quarterback, however. 

"I got flack about it at times with Ben Roethlisberger through my career, early on in my media career, right. In the pantheon of the all-time great quarterbacks, and I think we had a few discussions with people here on our podcast, I think Ben Roethlisberger is way better than people give him credit for in the pantheon."

There is no doubt that Roethlisberger is viewed very highly by Steelers fans, and always was thought of as underrated in the grand scheme, which Simms is now acknowledging. There is likely an easy way to explain why, and that is because of who else he was competing against, also being all-time greats. 

Roethlisberger was going head to head with the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and in the second half of his career, Aaron Rodgers. Those are three all-time greats that often get more attention than Roethlisberger and Simms pointed that out. 

"He got stuck in a generation of exploding offenses, and some special quarterbacks, that take away his luster. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Brett Favre. He was sandwiched between all of them. Aaron Rodgers. So there he was in the prime of his career kind of awesome."

That is definitely a tremendous list of names to be connected to. While Roethlisberger was going through his career, he had Manning, who was viewed as one of the smartest quarterbacks of all-time and had all the stats. Brady was unstoppable, winning Super Bowls every other year it seemed, while knocking the Steelers out of the playoffs regularly it felt. Then Rodgers came around, who beat Roethlisberger head to head for a Lombardi Trophy. 

The one thing that Roethlisberger had over all of them however, was something you couldn't put on a stat sheet. He had a unique ability to just make plays when they mattered most, and had such a different skillset that no matter how you game planned as a defensive coordinator, he could ruin it all with his ability to shrug off defensive linemen and make plays.  

Simms brought up a moment from the Steelers' 2010 Super Bowl playoff run, where they managed to get a win over the New York Jets after they took out two elite quarterbacks heading into the matchup against Pittsburgh. 

"The Jets that year, it was Mark Sanchez's rookie year. They went into Indianapolis and beat Peyton Manning, because we had this great Rex Ryan defense. Darrelle Revis and all these studs. Then they went to New England and upset Tom Brady. Well d**n, it's Pittsburgh, they should be able to upset Ben Roethlisberger. I can still remember after the game, Rex was like, 'We just couldn't stop Ben Roethlisberger in any of the big moments.'"

Ultimately, players get judged off of their biggest moments, and that is amplified even more when it comes to quarterbacks. Roethlisberger definitely earned his chops in that regard. 

Steelers Failure To Win Super Bowl In 2010s Likely Stunted Roethlisberger's Legacy

It is well documented the struggles the Steelers have experienced throughout the majority of the 2010s in terms of winning playoff games, and failing to add another Lombardi Trophy to their case, even though they had some extremely talented teams. That not only had some fans calling for significant changes to be made, such as potentially firing Head Coach Mike Tomlin, but also potentially hurt Roethlisberger's legacy. 

Roethlisberger, at times, is criticized for only winning two Super Bowls because he was carried by some of the best defenses in history. Once those defenses started to struggle, he wasn't able to get the team back to that level. That is likely a bit of an unfair criticism, but it is still something people will continue to hang over his head nonetheless.