PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey sat on the bench, their eleventh season collectively over. Their future unsure. Their ache apparent.
The tip of the 2020 season wasn’t supposed to come back so shortly. But it barreled down on the Pittsburgh Steelers from the primary snap of a 48-37 wild-card loss to Cleveland on Sunday night time, the one which Pouncey despatched crusing over Roethlisberger’s head and into the top zone. Cleveland’s Karl Joseph fell on it for a landing.
The errors, the one the Steelers had both prevented or survived throughout their 11-0 begin, quickly piled up. One Roethlisberger interception grew to become two. Then three. Then ultimately, 4. A seven-point deficit shortly ballooned to twenty-eight. And the optimism of an unbeaten run by way of November light into the fact of one other playoff cameo in January.
Three years in the past, the Jaguars got here into Heinz Discipline and surprised the AFC’s second seed. This time, it was the resurgent Browns — making their first postseason look in 18 years — who offered the sudden whipping. Cleveland gamers ran off the turf shouting “Similar Outdated Browns” understanding they appeared something however whereas the 38-year-old Roethlisberger and the 31-year-old Pouncey contemplated what comes subsequent.
“I hated that it ended the best way it did,” Roethlisberger mentioned. “I needed to win it for him.”
Requested to make clear what was ending, Roethlisberger harassed it was simply the season. Perhaps, however there’s a really actual likelihood {that a} main shift is on the best way for a franchise that sometimes does little greater than tweak.
“We’re in uncharted territory, to say the least,” defensive finish Cam Heyward mentioned. “Modifications should be made.”
The Steelers (12-5) hoped to place off the robust questions on what path the membership will head in 2021 for at the least a month. As a substitute, they’re right here following a historic playoff meltdown. Cleveland’s 48 factors had been essentially the most ever allowed by the Steelers within the postseason. The protection that led the NFL in sacks for a fourth straight 12 months and has a regular-season sack streak that dates again to 2016 did not take Mayfield down as soon as.
“It was all horrible on the market,” Heyward mentioned.
The offense that sputtered a lot in the course of the second half of the 12 months didn’t spring to life till the Steelers trailed by 28. By then it was too late. The closest Pittsburgh acquired to creating it aggressive got here on the primary play of the fourth quarter. Going through fourth-and-1 on the Pittsburgh 46 and down simply 35-23, head coach Mike Tomlin opted to punt.
“I needed to pin them down and perhaps present a brief subject for his or her offense,” Tomlin mentioned. “I simply needed to maintain the momentum going by way of subject positioning.”
Like nearly all the things else the Steelers tried at a sparse Heinz Discipline, it didn’t work. Jordan Berry’s kick hit on the 2 and trickled into the top zone. Mayfield shortly guided the Browns 80 yards and the deficit was again as much as 19. Roethlisberger’s ultimate decide with 3:16 remaining sealed it.
“Clearly you possibly can’t flip the ball over and it kills your workforce, kills your possibilities,” Roethlisberger mentioned.
The query is what comes subsequent? Roethlisberger set an NFL playoff file by finishing 47 passes. His 501 yards had been the second-most ever within the postseason. A 12 months faraway from proper elbow surgical procedure, he led the Steelers to an AFC North title and threw it over 600 instances.
Tomlin believes Roethlisberger can nonetheless play at a excessive degree. So does the one fixed he’s had in his 14 seasons on the job. The listing of things Roethlisberger will have in mind whereas attempting to determine whether or not to return subsequent spring isn’t brief.
“Quite a lot of praying, a number of speaking,” Roethlisberger mentioned. “I nonetheless have a 12 months left on my contract. I hope the Steelers need me again if that’s the best way we go.”
The economics, nevertheless, are tough. Roethlisberger has a cap hit of over $41 million subsequent 12 months, almost 1 / 4 of the whole wage cap. The groups the Steelers are competing with within the AFC all have quarterbacks who’re far youthful and — except for Kansas Metropolis’s Patrick Mahomes — far cheaper. That flexibility provides them possibilities to spend cash elsewhere. The Steelers may not have that luxurious.
Outdoors linebacker Bud Dupree, large receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, operating again James Conner and left deal with Al Villanueva are all impending free brokers, amongst others. The holes on the roster Pittsburgh should fill subsequent season might be many whether or not Roethlisberger returns or not.
It was a dialogue they hoped to place off for so long as potential. As Roethlisberger and Pouncey acquired up, slowly walked off the sphere and into the tunnel, that dialogue is now right here.
“It’s robust to lose guys in our locker room who’ve accomplished nice issues on and off the sphere,” Heyward mentioned. “And you recognize, that unknown simply kills me. To squander a possibility like that and to know we didn’t play our model of soccer.”
