With the season now just being, “Thank God there’s only eight games left,” instead of, “We have eight more games to try to turn this thing around,” the question some Steelers’ fans have pondered is, when should the Steelers sit Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the year? At what point do you chalk this year up as a loss, as well as cut your losses? That answer is probably at no point this season, but the reality is, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Since the Steelers would 99.9 percent never just sit Ben out for reasons being a lost season, let’s just role play a little. I swear I heard the late great Myron Cope do one time in the car when I was a kid during a game in the 1980s, when the Steelers were losing badly to the Minnesota Vikings and Myron said, “We’re gonna pretend the Steelers are up 14-0,” or something along those lines. So let’s just say we, the fans, run the team right now. I say if the Steelers lose at home to the Bills (which is highly unlikely since I will be in attendance haha), then I say go with Landry Jones the rest of the year. We already know what Bruce Gradkowski CAN’T do, plus he’s as old as Brandon Weeden. The odds are highly unlikely the Steelers have found a diamond in the rough with the 4th round pick Landry, but heck, see what you have or don’t have in him.
But, if the Steelers do beat the Bills, you start Ben again at home vs. Detroit, a very losable game, but also somewhat winnable, depending on what Detroit team shows up. As crazy as it sounds, if the Steelers get to 4-6, things could get interesting again, as the AFC North could be up for grabs, seeing that the Bengals have Baltimore, Cleveland, San Diego and Indianapolis as their next four games. But, being a little more realistic, let’s say the Steelers lose to Detroit and slip to 3-7, you can’t sit Ben vs. the rival Browns the following week, well, because it’s the Browns. Ben wouldn’t allow that. He’s only lost to them once in his career, and this would be a chance to beat a decent Cleveland team, one unlike the previous years of Ben’s career that they beat handily for the most part.
The season would now be heading into Week 13 with the Steelers most likely at 4-7 or 3-8. Jones would get a chance to start five games — pending his health — a window big enough to see if there’s potential for him to even be a long term backup, and a chunk of time for Ben to rest from the additional sacks he’s going to take from Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland. Hopefully an injury won’t occur prior to or during any of these games. That is the big risk the Steelers would be taking by continuing to play Ben. If there ever was a season to try to get him some rest, this is the season.
Seeing Jones for a handful of games would also help the Steelers in deciding if this year might be the year to take a quarterback with an early round pick, whether it’s in the first or second, as some say the 2014 QB class will be pretty deep (I think it’s looking more bleak as the college season goes on, but that’s just my humble opinion). So there’s also that on top of protecting Ben’s health for his remaining years, whether that be two, three, or four, no one knows. Again, the Steelers probably don’t have a future franchise QB in Jones, but a guy named after Tom Landry just might have some football pedigree in him. So, as we take off our fantasy GM black and gold glasses, what we’ll see…is that Big Ben will more than likely play til the bitter end.
