Ben Roethlisberger proved Thursday night that even at 39, he has a little magic left.
The Steelers lost to the Vikings, 36-28, but not before Roethlisberger nearly pulled off a furious comeback from a 29-0 deficit late in the third quarter. Big Ben converted four touchdowns in five possessions, and nearly pulled off the miracle, if not for a pass breakup in the end zone on fourth down to seal the loss.
But the result was all too familiar for Roethlisberger and the Steelers — another crushing loss that dimmed their playoff hopes. The Steelers, on the verge of missing the postseason for the third time in four years, dropped to 6-6-1 and the 10th seed in the AFC.
“I don’t look at moral victories,” Roethlisberger said afterward. “We’re running out of time.”
The same can be said of Roethlisberger’s career. It was hardly surprising when ESPN reported this past week that Roethlisberger has been telling teammates that this is his last season. The bigger surprise was that he even came back this year, his 18th with the Steelers. Roethlisberger turns 40 in March, and though he still has occasional moments of greatness, his career has been slowly pulling into the station for several years.
Roethlisberger missed the final 14 games of 2019 following major elbow surgery, and he has been Captain Checkdown the past two seasons, averaging just 6.3 and 6.7 yards per attempt (ranking 31st and 25th among quarterbacks).
The Steelers keep bringing him back because they curiously have not invested in a quarterback of the future. They have been stuck in limbo as an organization, with no playoffs in 2018 or 2019, and a disappointing one-and-done in 2020.
The fight that Roethlisberger and the Steelers showed in the second half Thursday night was admirable. But it was sad watching the dysfunction unfold in front of Roethlisberger as he took five sacks and lectured his teammates for their myriad mistakes.
“We were JV again tonight,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the game.
Assuming this is it for Big Ben, he can start getting ready for an induction speech in Canton in five years. With two Super Bowl victories, six Pro Bowls, and top-10 passing numbers, he seems close to a lock for first-ballot induction into the Hall of Fame.
At his best, Roethlisberger was the ultimate quarterback — a gunslinger who twice led the NFL in passing yards (including 5,129 in 2018), and was so big and strong that he was nearly impossible to bring down. He went 13-0 as a rookie, won championships in his second and fifth seasons, and was fearless throwing the ball downfield to Antonio Brown and others.
“There’s only one Ben Roethlisberger,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in 2018. “He can see over everything. He’s got a tremendous arm. He can flat-footed fire it 50, 60 yards downfield. He’s got great poise, great patience. He’s tough, really tough. I have a ton of respect for him.”
But Roethlisberger’s career also feels a bit unfulfilled. Despite the two championships in his first five seasons, Roethlisberger hasn’t won since 2008, and hasn’t been to the Super Bowl since 2010. He started his career with an 8-2 playoff record but is 5-7 since. He is on pace to miss the playoffs for the seventh time in his career. And Roethlisberger rarely had success against the Patriots, with a 4-9 record, including 0-2 in the playoffs.
It seems fair to say that poor decisions off the field held Roethlisberger back. Early in his career, it was immaturity and abhorrent behavior. In June 2006, fresh off his first Super Bowl victory, Roethlisberger was in a serious motorcycle accident in which he wasn’t wearing a helmet (and didn’t have a motorcycle license). He went through the windshield of a car, smashed up his face, and could eat only soft foods for two months.
And in 2009 and 2010, Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault in separate incidents in Lake Tahoe and Milledgeville, Ga. Roethlisberger settled out of court with his first accuser and wasn’t charged with a crime in either incident, but was still suspended for four games to start the 2010 season.
Later in his career, Roethlisberger didn’t make great decisions as far as taking care of himself. He never was crazy about offseason training, grew noticeably overweight, and now has aches and pains all over.
“It’s my shoulder that hurts more than my elbow,” Roethlisberger said recently. “I’ve thrown a million throws in my life, so at some point your shoulder starts to wear down a little bit. Just like any quarterback, your arm always hurts a little bit.”
Except it doesn’t have to be that way. It may not be fair to compare anyone to Tom Brady, but Brady is still thriving at 44 because of his dedication and commitment, not because of luck or natural ability. Drew Brees had the same commitment and was still effective at 41. Philip Rivers was terrific at 39 and could have kept playing.
But Roethlisberger started breaking down at age 35. He had the same tools at his disposal but didn’t seem to want it as much as some of his peers.
“Nothing against Tom, but I’m not eating avocado ice cream,” he said last summer.
Roethlisberger has been everything the Steelers could have imagined, and then some, when they drafted him No. 11 overall in 2004. Of the three QBs in that draft likely to make the Hall of Fame — Roethlisberger, Rivers, and Eli Manning — Big Ben has the best résumé. The Steelers’ .653 win percentage since 2004 is second-best in the NFL, behind only the Patriots. They have two more Lombardi Trophies in their lobby thanks to Roethlisberger.
But it’s hard not to wonder how much more Roethlisberger and the Steelers could have accomplished if he had made better decisions off the field and taken better care of himself.
OLD FOES FACE OFF
Brady is next for struggling Bills
The Bills don’t have any time to mope about their loss to the Patriots on Monday night. They face another longtime nemesis on Sunday, when they travel to Tampa for a 4:25 p.m. showdown with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
For Brady and the 9-3 Buccaneers, a win plus losses or ties by the Saints and Panthers will give the Buccaneers the NFC South title. For the 7-5 Bills, a win will strengthen their positioning in the AFC playoff standings, but a loss could drop them out of the bracket altogether.
Brady has never played the Bills as a Buccaneer, but as a Patriot he was their owner and sole proprietor. Brady is 32-3 (.914) against the Bills, with his only losses coming in 2003, 2011, and 2014, the last of which was a Week 17 game in which the Patriots pulled their starters at halftime. Brady also missed one game in 2016 during his four-game suspension.
To beat a division rival 32 out of 35 times is nothing short of incredible. Consider that Aaron Rodgers similarly dominates the Bears, yet his win percentage of .815 (22-5) is 100 points lower than Brady’s against the Bills.
In 35 career games against Buffalo, Brady has thrown for 8,669 yards (247.7 per game), with 70 touchdowns, 25 interceptions, and a 97.9 passer rating.
Brady has 11 games of at least 300 passing yards against the Bills, and 10 with at least three touchdowns and no interceptions. Brady threw multiple interceptions in just four of the 35 games.
Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski also has had a ton of success against his hometown Bills. In 15 career games, Gronk has 69 catches for 1,070 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Brady gets to play all of his old AFC East rivals this year because of the schedule rotation. Brady, who already beat the Dolphins this year, was 23-12 against them as a Patriot, with a 92.8 passer rating. And Brady will face the Jets in New York in Week 17, with a career 30-8 record and 93.1 passer rating.
ETC.
No time to miss each other
As the NFL schedule reaches the final five weeks, it starts to get a little quirky.
Three pairs of teams will play each other twice in three weeks: Browns-Ravens (Weeks 12 and 14), Cowboys-Washington (Weeks 14 and 16), and Buccaneers-Panthers (Weeks 16 and18). Two other pairs will play each other twice in four weeks: Patriots-Bills (Weeks 13 and 16) and Bears-Vikings (Weeks 15 and 18).
The Browns are actually playing consecutive games against the Ravens, since they had a bye in between. Sunday’s rematch — the Ravens won the first one, 16-10 — will mark the first time in 30 years that one team has played consecutive regular-season games against the same opponent. In 1991, it was the Seahawks playing the Chargers in Weeks 9 and 11, with each team holding a bye in Week 10.
The NFL also backloaded division games for three teams. Washington will play its final five games against division opponents, the first team to do so since the 1995 Buccaneers. Washington ends with Cowboys-Eagles-Cowboys-Eagles-Giants.
The Eagles have a bye this week, then finish with four straight division games: Washington-Giants-Washington-Cowboys. Only two teams in the last 20 years have finished the season with four straight division games: The 2017 Falcons and 2019 Eagles.
And the Broncos will finish with three AFC West games: Raiders-Chargers-Chiefs.
Shrine Bowl making a move
For at least the last couple of decades, the college All-Star games that are used for pre-draft scouting have had a clear pecking order, with the Senior Bowl as the leader of the pack.
But the East-West Shrine Bowl, originally founded in 1925, is looking to give the Senior Bowl some competition. No longer will Shrine practices be held at high school fields, and the game held in a cavernous Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.
For 2021, the Shrine Bowl has rebranded and relocated, and has become an official partner with the NFL. The event has moved to Las Vegas, with all practices, as well as the game on Feb. 3, held at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium. Shrine Bowl week will be a part of the NFL’s Pro Bowl week, and the game will be played on a Thursday night on NFL Network.
“The Shrine Bowl has been kind of a second-tier event, and that’s no longer the case,” said Eric Galko, hired six months ago as the Shrine Bowl’s director of football operations. “That’s really our goal, is to be the feature NFL All-Star game. Be the best All-Star game, and be a really important center for scouting, media, technology, analytics, etc. in the NFL offseason.”
The Shrine Bowl used to be held the week before the Senior Bowl, and was a platform for players such as Jimmy Garoppolo to earn an invitation to the bigger event.
But with the move to Vegas and partnership with the NFL, the Shrine Bowl was pushed back to the same week as the Senior Bowl. Players will have to choose one game or the other, and the Shrine Bowl hopes that players in the future will choose Vegas over Mobile, Ala.
“This year we think the talent will be mixed between both games, and in the future we’re hopeful and excited to be a feature event,” Galko said. “I think some people are bound by tradition, but I think other people kind of understand, ‘Hey, Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium, that sounds pretty cool.’ ”
Thomas left his mark
Rest in peace, Demaryius Thomas, who died suddenly this past week at 33. Thomas, who spent the bulk of his 10-year career with the Broncos, had a four-year stretch as one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL. The 22nd overall pick in 2010, Thomas’s career took off when Peyton Manning arrived in Denver in 2012, starting a run of four straight seasons with at least 1,300 yards receiving, and totaling 41 touchdowns. Thomas went to four Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl 50 with the Broncos, and had some big games against the Patriots, including a 2012 game with nine catches for 180 yards.
Based on the number of tributes to him on Friday, Thomas also touched countless lives with his positive attitude and selfless demeanor.
“This guy is one of the all-time special people,” Josh McDaniels, who drafted Thomas with the Broncos, told 9News in Colorado.
Thomas played a small but significant part in the final chapter of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era. According to “The Dynasty” by Jeff Benedict, Brady was upset that his input wasn’t taken into account when the Patriots traded Thomas at the end of training camp in 2019. About a week later, Robert Kraft helped smooth it over by calling Brady to ask if he wanted the Patriots to get Antonio Brown.
Extra points
Time to learn the name Trey Hendrickson. The Bengals’ pass rusher, in his first year with the team after four with the Saints, has been nearly unblockable this season, with 11.5 sacks so far. With a sack on Sunday against the 49ers, Hendrickson can join the Chiefs’ Chris Jones as the only players since sacks became official in 1982 to register one in nine consecutive games … Both current No. 1 seeds, Arizona and New England, missed the playoffs in 2020. The last time the top seeds in each conference missed the playoffs the previous year was 1992, with the 49ers and Steelers … This season also marks the first time since 2002 that every AFC team has at least four losses this early in the season … Brady can become the first player to crack 700 career touchdown passes (including postseason), as he enters Sunday’s game against the Bills with 698. Drew Brees (608) is the only other player in history with 600. Brady also has 95,424 career passing yards, including postseason, and should crack 100,000 next year, assuming he doesn’t do a surprise retirement … How rare is the success of the Cardinals, who are 10-2 and the NFC’s No. 1 seed? They are in their 102nd NFL season, and can reach the 11-win mark for just the sixth time (1925, 1948, 1975, 2014, and 2015) … The Ravens returned offensive tackle Ja’Wuan James to practice this past week, though he remains on the non-football injury list. You’ll remember James as the guy who tore his Achilles’ in May while working out away from the Broncos’ facility, leading the Broncos to release him and voiding $15 million in guarantees. The Ravens smartly snapped up James for two years and $3.5 million (plus incentives), and now might get some use from him in the stretch run … Teams that win the turnover margin have won 80.1 percent of games this year … Received in my inbox Thursday: An offer from the Bills for a playoff ticket presale on Dec. 16. Talk about a jinx.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.