When you’re good enough, and you play long enough, there’s a good chance that you’re going to end your career with just about every conceivable record in the history of your franchise tied to your position and individual performance.
All of those sorts of things were taken as a given for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who is winding down his career now after 18 seasons, with tomorrow being quite possibly the final game he ever plays, even with a Hall of Fame quarterback. He has more than twice as many pass attempts, completions, and yards as Terry Bradshaw, and only a handful shy of double the touchdown passes, as well.
Thanks to some sloppy play down the stretch, Roethlisberger ensured himself of ending his Steelers career with one more record: The most interceptions in franchise history. Bradshaw ended his career with 210, throwing an interception on 5.4 percent of his pass attempts.
While Roethlisberger’s interception rate is not even half as high, he did throw interception number 211 in the regular-season finale on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. That final regular-season interception of Roethlisberger’s career was caught by safety Geno Stone—the first of his career.
In all, the future Hall of Famer threw 10 interceptions this season, posting an interception rate of 1.7 percent—not great, but not even close to bad. He also threw 10 interceptions last season with only three more pass attempts, so roughly the same rate.
But he did throw 33 touchdowns that year, one off of his own franchise record, in comparison to the 22 that he threw in 2021. That was the fewest touchdowns he’s thrown in a season in which he played more than 12 games since 2011, a year in which he threw 14 interceptions, and in which he, bafflingly, made the Pro Bowl.
Roethlisberger will retire having completed 5,440 of 8,443 pass attempts (fifth all-time for both) with a career completion percentage of 64.4 (17th), throwing for 64,088 yards (fifth) with 418 touchdowns (eighth) and 211 interceptions (22nd), 7.6 yards per pass attempt (22nd), and a quarterback rating of 93.5 (16th).
None of those do us any good for tomorrow’s game, of course. He won’t even be eligible for the Hall of Fame for another five years. For the time being, there’s a game to try to win, a game in which he and the Steelers are significant underdogs. And the best thing he can do is avoid adding to his interception total. He is tied with Jim Kelly for the third-most postseason interceptions of all time.
