The story going into the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday Night Football matchup vs. the Cleveland Browns was the final home game for Ben Roethlisberger. The emotions were running high and the Steeler Nation crowd was the loudest in the history of Heinz Field. It did not matter that the Steelers playoff chances felt highly improbable, what ensued was a football game that will go down in Steelers history as one of the most memorable games in the history of the franchise.
Roethlisberger came out throwing through the first half, and while it wasn't the most efficient performance of his career (24/46 for 123 yards 1 TD, 1 INT), it worked to break a 5-game streak of not scoring a TD in the first half. The ignominious streak was the longest the team had experienced since 1940 that ceased when Roethlisberger connected with Diontae Johnson on a 5-yard slant in the 2nd quarter - marking the 257th TD pass thrown at home (3rd most in NFL history).
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While the night was a celebration for the 18 years of Roethlisberger's career accomplishments, the show was stolen by two of his teammates. On defense, it was T.J. Watt stepping up, a recurring theme on the 2021 season. After briefly being surpassed by Robert Quinn of the Chicago Bears as the league leader in sacks by a half sack, Watt responded by pillaging the pocket of Baker Mayfield to the tune of 4 sacks en route to becoming the 12th player in league history to top 20 sacks and finishing the game with 21.5, just a single sack shy of tying the record held by Michael Strahan.
Watt was not alone in his dominance. Cam Heyward brought a sack and 2 batted passes in his 165th game as a Steeler. Alex Highsmith added 2 more sacks and 7 tackles.
Ahkello Witherspoon made a great break on the ball to pull off a his 3rd interception on the season and Minkah Fitzpatrick cradled up the Browns onside kick that put Roethlisberger and the offense in position to end the game by eating up the final minute of the clock.
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While the offense chanted "Let's go Ben," it was Najee Harris that sealed the game with a 37-yard TD exclamation point to put the Steelers up 26-14. Ben asked his teammates to help out and step up for the Ben's big night and Harris did not disappoint. In fact he carried the offense most of the night, with a career high 188 yard night, a night in which he joined Franco Harris as the only Steelers rookie RB to top 1,000 yards (1,172) and then passed Harris' rookie record (1,055).
Harris' run sealed the game, but it was another rookie that made the stadium explode as a Tre Norwood interception gave Big Ben one final time to line up in victory formation amid a chant of "Thank you Ben."
Asked after the game, Ben was surrounded by the media and asked to sum up how he felt about the game and by proxy his career. He summed it up perfectly he said it was the story as of his career: "That it was not always pretty but we found a way" as he held back tears saying that he was "at a loss for words."
It's okay Ben, because you weren't the only one holding back tears, especially as you took that victory lap.
Thank you Ben.
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