Saddle Up For The Good, Bad, And Ugly Because It Looks Like Big Ben Is Officially Coming Back Next Year

Alrighty then. There's our answer. Well, I guess to the question of "will Ben Roethlisberger play football again?" The Steelers still have the possible option of releasing him before free agency. 

Will that happen? Not likely, but still it is a possibility that we could see a split. 

But let's play along with the notion that now we know that Roethlisberger is playing again in 2021 and that it will be for the Steelers. Yes, I wave my Terrible Towel every Sunday so my gut of guts makes me believe that a new offensive coordinator, and an investment in more depth / youth on the offensive lineman will be enough to get at least another push for the division out of Big Ben in 2021. We saw the ability through the first 11 weeks then the flashes in the second half of the Colts game in week 16 to know that he, albeit not as youthful and consistent, can still make the throws necessary. 

And don't be a fool, he 10000% gives the 2021 Steelers a better shot to win / make a run than Mason Rudolph does - no matter how good Rudolph looked against a depleted Cleveland team in Week 17. Amazing how quickly people forget 2019 Rudolph who was benched for none other than my guy Duck Hodges. But that's a side note for tonight. 

Tonight is about Big Ben Roethlisberger continuing to be the last one standing from the 2004 draft class and more than likely the Steelers quarterback come September. Even without Maurkice Pouncey. Even with a new offensive coordinator. Even with how poorly 2020 ended for him and the Steelers with him crying on the sideline looking like it was the end. 

The last portion of his agent's statement is what keeps me coming back Pacino style. The hope, the prayer, that the fire left in Roethlisberger to "prove the doubters wrong" one more time and make a magical run is somewhere in there. At the end of the day, I figured 2020 was the last great hoorah anyways so 2021 was always going to be an experimental season. I'll just know that this season every game will be one more closer to the end of Big Ben. This time, for real.