PITTSBURGH — It's not about the money. Couldn't be. Not after Ben Roethlisberger took a $5 million pay cut to return for his 18th season and has already made more than $250 million in his career.
Roethlisberger doesn't need the money. He doesn't need to be working with a rookie center and a rookie coordinator, either. He doesn't need to be learning new tricks at age 39.
What he needs is a different ending to his Steelers story. I'm guessing he craves it. I'm guessing he couldn't stand the idea of a final chapter titled, "Four-Pick Loss to Browns."
"Hate to go out that way," Roethlisberger said during a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday, one of a couple of lines that leapt off the screen.
For better or worse — and it could always get worse — this is about Roethlisberger's competitive pride. If that wasn't obvious already, it became so during his first media session since news broke three months ago that he would return.
Roethlisberger is many things, but in characterizing his career, you better put "competitive" at the top of the list. "Sick competitor" is the phrase coach Mike Tomlin uses, and it's appropriate here.
No way Roethlisberger wanted to live with losing that way to the hated Browns, the franchise favored by his hometown of Findlay, Ohio, and the one that bypassed him in the 2004 draft. He turned the snub into a career-long resentment and beat the Browns nearly every time they played.
But not that time. Not 48-37 in front of a near-empty Heinz Field.
Combine the humiliating defeat with all the mockery since, and Roethlisberger should be plenty motivated. That doesn't necessarily mean a better ending's in store, but it seems clear that if he felt he had an ounce of competency left in him and a decent team around him, he was going to come back to try to right that wrong and take one last shot (maybe two) at a Super Bowl.
Which brings us to another quote that stood out Tuesday, a subtle one that wasn't followed up. It came about when Roethlisberger was asked to explain his late-season tailspin, when at times he looked done.
He accepted blame for the team's downfall before dropping this little doozy, saying he was "just feeling worn down."
Worn down?
What did that mean? His body? His mind? His arm? He did mention in December that "the cumulation of the toll of the hits, of pounding, the grinding, of being 38 years old, all of those things kind of add up."
The arm apparently was not a major problem, but that doesn't mean a year removed from elbow surgery won't help. Roethlisberger touched on that several questions later, when asked about his erratic deep ball.
His troubles connecting on, or even attempting, deeper throws became a huge topic last season. Opponents figured out that Roethlisberger wasn't going to beat them over the top (although the Colts might beg to differ). He also had no running game, so they simply began to overplay the short, quick passing game — Randy Fichtner's "catch short, run long (unless you're tackled right away, which is most of the time)" offense.
What happened to the deep ball, a reporter asked, wondering if Roethlisberger's elbow surgery factored in.
"I was going to say, you know I had total reconstruction of my elbow," Roethlisberger said. "Might have had something to do with it."
I like that Roethlisberger. The stubborn one. The passive-aggressive one. He was kind of, sort of joking. But he really wasn't.
"My arm was healed," he said. "But I think anybody that has a big surgery ... that first year back, you're back, but are you really back and feeling great?
"That's why I want to [wait] to answer that question until we get into the season to really let you know how my arm feels even compared to last year."
It should be pointed out that last year at this time, Roethlisberger said his arm felt "better than ever" and even late in the season was saying it felt "really good." Still, it just makes sense, even for a 39-year-old, that the second season after major surgery could be better than the first in terms of strength and accuracy.
Roethlisberger spoke of throwing "thousands of balls" last offseason as part of his rehab. Now, he can rest the arm and ready himself for a 17-game marathon.
I happen to believe he had a pretty good year. If you'd told me he would throw 33 touchdowns against 10 interceptions and the Steelers would go 12-4, I'd have been surprised. I also realize it was the stretch run that caused legitimate concern.
Some of the criticism since then is valid. Some is borderline hallucinogenic, minus the borderline. CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora, for example, broke this year's quarterbacks into seven tiers and placed Roethlisberger in the sixth — titled "Good Luck" — alongside the likes of Sam Darnold and Andy Dalton (what, no Duck Hodges?).
I say give the man a running game and a more imaginative offense and see what happens. No guarantees, obviously. It could get worse.
But is anyone besides Roethlisberger even entertaining the idea that it could get better?
