Ben Roethlisberger announces retirement after 18 seasons with Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger made it official Thursday. The two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is retiring from the NFL after spending 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Roethlisberger, who indicated in late December that the 2021 season would be his last, made the announcement by releasing a 2-minute, 16-second video on his website, BigBen7.com.

“I don’t know how to put into words what the game of football has meant to me and what a blessing it has been,” Roethlisberger said while narrating the video that showed snippets of him cleaning out his locker interspersed with highlights of his Steelers career. “While I know with confidence I have given my all to the game, I am overwhelmed with gratitude all it has given me. A boy from Findlay, Ohio, with NFL dreams, developed at Oxford at Miami University, blessed with the honor of 18 seasons as a Pittsburgh Steeler and a place to call home.

“The journey has been exhilarating, defined by relationships and fueled by a spirit of competition. Yet the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats and continue to be all I can be to my wife and my children.

“I retire from football a truly grateful man.”

A message from Ben:@steelers #NFL #SteelersNation #ThankYou#HereWeGo #LoveAndHonor pic.twitter.com/pUbKGO1nUs

— BigBen7.com (@_BigBen7) January 27, 2022

Roethlisberger’s retirement comes less than two weeks after the Steelers were ousted from the AFC playoffs with a 42-21 loss at Kansas City. Although Roethlisberger fell short of winning a third Super Bowl title, he led the Steelers to the playoffs for the 12th time in his career and took pride in never playing for a team with a losing record.

It’s a resume that in five years should land Roethlisberger in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“We are forever grateful for all the success he has helped bring to the organization the past 18 years,” team president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “Ben will always be viewed as one of the all-time greats in our team history, and his determination, toughness and competitiveness will be remembered by everyone in the organization as well as Steeler Nation throughout the world.”

Roethlisberger, who turns 40 in March, thanked his wife, Ashley, and children, Benjamin, Bode and Baylee; his parents and sister; and the Steelers organization, including the Rooney family and coaches Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.

“Thank you for believing in me and allowing me to battle with you in pursuit of excellence,” Roethlisberger said. “To all my teammates and the endless friendships I’ve gained, I appreciate you and our shared commitment to wearing the black and gold with pride and dignity. Putting that jersey on every Sunday with my brothers will always be one of the greatest joys of my life.

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“To Steeler Nation, the best fans in all sport: Thank you for accepting me and supporting me as your quarterback over the years. Football has been a gift, and I thank God for allowing me to play it. Surrounding me with great people and protecting me through to the end.”

Under Cowher, the Steelers took Roethlisberger with their first-round pick in 2004. He set an NFL record for wins as a rookie, and he helped to guide the Steelers to a Super Bowl title in his second season. It was the first of three appearances he made on the NFL’s grandest stage.

“He played with grit, determination and resiliency, and his passion for the game was evident throughout his career,” Cowher said in a statement released on his verified Twitter page. “He is a winner. From his rookie season, you knew that you always had a chance to win with Ben as a quarterback.”

A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Roethlisberger finished his career fifth on the NFL’s all-time passing yardage list with 64,088 yards. He also ranked fifth in completions and eighth in passing touchdowns.

Roethlisberger, though, said the most important stat was wins. His 165 victories in the regular season rank fifth in NFL history, and his 53 game-winning drives are tied for second on the all-time list. He had seven of those game-winning drives in his final season.

“He was at his best in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line,” Cowher said. “He was the guy you could always count on to deliver when it mattered the most.”

Roethlisberger’s two biggest wins, of course, came when he led the Steelers to Super Bowl championships after the 2005 and 2008 seasons. His second championship was capped by a last-minute touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to Santonio Holmes for the winning score as the Steelers rallied to beat Arizona, 27-23.

Roethlisberger’s personal challenges weren’t always as easy to overcome. He was accused of sexual assault on two occasions, in 2009 and 2010. A civil suit following an incident at Lake Tahoe was settled out of court, and he was never charged after being accused of assaulting a woman at a Georgia bar in 2010.

Roethlisberger was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2010 season, but he led the Steelers back to the Super Bowl that season, where they were beaten by the Green Bay Packers.

Roethlisberger retires owning 52 franchise records in the regular season and 18 more in the playoffs. The only area in which he didn’t finish first was championships. He finished with half as many as Terry Bradshaw won in the 1970s.

Roethlisberger once hoped to match Bradshaw’s total, but the Steelers haven’t appeared in a Super Bowl since that trip in February 2011, and they haven’t won a playoff game since 2016.

Roethlisberger admitted in December that when he agreed to return for a final season in 2021 by accepting a one-year contract that included a $5 million pay cut, he was preparing for it to be his final one.

“I wouldn’t say that I had my mind made up by any means,” Roethlisberger said, “but I had my mind made up coming into this season that I was going to give it everything I have to try and win a Super Bowl.”

In late December, days before the Steelers closed the home portion of their schedule against Cleveland, Roethlisberger acknowledged his impending retirement, saying “all signs point” to it being the last chapter of his playing career.

Roethlisberger was serenaded by fans who chanted his name throughout and after a 26-14 victory against the Browns at Heinz Field. Roethlisberger slapped hands with fans before heading down the tunnel one last time, his wife and children accompanying him off the field.

That win was one of two Roethlisberger engineered in January to help get the Steelers back into the playoffs one final time in his career.

After the Steelers were knocked out of the postseason by Kansas City, Roethlisberger said he was looking forward to spending more time with his family.

“Being a husband and father, you never take a day off,” he said that night. “You’ve got to keep going. As we move from one chapter to the next, it’s going to be different, but it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a new challenge, and I’m looking forward to it.”