It Was Bound To Happen

After Sunday's rather enjoyable Super Bowl I started the countdown to the inevitable question - is Ben Roethlisberger one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time? The countdown lasted about 12 hours.

Anyway, let's keep this short and sweet - No. No, he is not.

Pittsburgh is one of those rare good teams. They don't have any great players, just a collection of good players that play extremely well together (Troy Polamalu may be the exception here, although getting burned deep with the game on the line while in a prevent defense doesn't help your case, Troy). Roethlisberger is one of those game-manager types who can just as easily cost you the game as pull it out in the clutch, i.e. he's no different from a dozen or more other quarterbacks in the NFL today. Just because he's got two Super Bowl rings doesn't mean he must now and forever be included in some mythical, fabricated "Greatest Ever" discussion.

So let's just keep it simple and try to get caught up in the nostalgia and hyperbole that always happens when you kiss football goodbye for 7 long months...