Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won the 137 regular season game of his career on Sunday over the Atlanta Falcons. That stands as the seventh-most for a quarterback in NFL history, trailing only, in ascending order, Drew Brees, Dan Marino, John Elway, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady.
Elway’s 148 wins is reachable in 2018, but it would require winning out. To crack the top three would take some doing, however. Favre won 186 games, which is at least a few years away for Roethlisberger. Manning finished with 186 wins, while Brady is on the doorstep of becoming the first quarterback to ever win 200 games.
When it comes to quarterback-head coach pairings, however, Roethlisberger along with Head Coach Mike Tomlin are now looking up to just two duos after surpassing Terry Bradshaw and Chuck Noll on Sunday with their 108 wins together. And that meant something to the quarterback.
“Knowing that we are past Bradshaw and Coach Noll, who had obviously all the records in terms of Super Bowls and wins and those things, and now to pass them, to me, is just so humbling”, Roethlisberger said during his radio show yesterday on 93.7 FM. “It’s an honor”.
“I’ve said on this show many times that individual stats don’t mean a lick to me. That’s passing yards, touchdowns, things like that”, the quarterback continued. “Wins and losses and championships mean the most”.
Roethlisberger’s winning percentage ranks fifth in NFL history among quarterbacks who have won at least 100 games, so he’s done something right. And that is what he takes pride in more than any other measurement of success.
“This record actually means a little more to me than passing Terry’s passing yards or getting 50,000 or moving anywhere on an all-time list”, he said, “because it’s about the W and getting a win, and this is a direct reflection on winning football games, so to me, I told Coach yesterday congratulations, because I thought it was such a cool thing that we were able to get on this list and try and work our way up”.
He added that he knows Marino and Don Shula are number two on the list ahead of himself and Tomlin, with 116 wins, a mark they can reach this year. “I know we’ve got Marino and Shula next on the list”, he said. “Hopefully we can keep playing together for a while”.
I hope so too. Though I don’t hold out any hope for their taking over the number one spot, as Brady and Bill Belichick have 91 more victories than they currently have as a pair, and neither appears to be ready to step away from the game. Now that would take some doing.
