Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Announces Retirement After 18 Seasons; Won 2 Super Bowls

Ben Roethlisberger announced his retirement from the NFL on Thursday.

Two Super Bowl victories, three AFC titles, five AFC Championship Game appearances and 12 playoff berths are what Roethlisberger has on his resume. He won the offensive rookies of the year in 2004.

The former Miami (Ohio) star was taken with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. Roethlisberger took over and went 13-0 for the team after backing up Tommy Maddox.

Tom Brady and the New England Pats won their third Super Bowl victory by defeating Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game.

The Pittsburgh Steelers won their first Super Bowl in 26 years the following season, defeating the Seattle Seahawks 21-10), and it was the second time that Big Ben had won the game.

He won his second Super Bowl in 2008. His signature moment was when he threw arope to wideout Santonio Holmes for the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of the Super Bowl.

Roethlisberger went to the Super Bowl for the third time. The Packers defeated the Steelers.

They haven't gotten back to the big game since they had some incredible offensive talents and defensive stars.

Roethlisberger never had a losing season. They went 165-81-1 in his starts.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will likely vote on Roethlisberger on the first ballot. He completed 64.4% of his passes and averaged 7.6 yards per attempt.

After leading the league in passing yards, his production went down.

He missed all but two games in 2019.

Roethlisberger threw for a career low of 6.3 yards per pass attempt when he came back in 2020. He had 33 touchdown and 10 interceptions for a team that started 11-0, but his legendary arm strength had taken a hit. After the veteran was out for nearly a year, that appeared to be a regression.

The team had a mediocre campaign. Roethlisberger was struggling to score points as the age caught up to him.

The 12th time a Roethlisberger-led team made the playoffs, Pittsburgh still qualified for the playoffs.

Big Ben's team never torpedoed, and the quarterback offered some production at the end of his career.

Roethlisberger will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

His career was marked by troubling allegations.

One woman said the quarterback raped her at a Lake Tahoe hotel while he was in town for a charity golf tournament. The man and woman settled out of court.

A college student said Roethlisberger sexually assault her at a Milledgeville, Georgia, nightclub in 2010.

Roethlisberger was suspended for six games by the league for violating its personal conduct policy. The sentence was reduced to four games.

Big Ben played in the National Football League for a decade.

According to a report by Adam Schefter, Roethlisberger told his former teammates and some within the organization that he expected the 2021 season to be his last in the NFL.

The final weeks of the campaign showed that. Roethlisberger told reporters that the team&s Week 17 home game against the Cleveland Browns was likely his last game at the stadium.

Roethlisberger mentioned his retirement after the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The team will hope to find another franchise quarterback who can lead the team to sustained success.

The answer is not on the roster. After a disastrous run as the Washington Football Team's quarterback, Mason Rudolph has struggled with his opportunities, and also a reclamation project for another quarterback.

Pittsburgh will probably have to use the draft, free agency or the trade market to find a successor to Roethlisberger.

The future may be in question at quarterback, but Roethlisberger leaves the game after an excellent 18-year run that will be followed by a bronze bust in Canton, Ohio.