It’s still somewhat surreal to be coming to the end of the Ben Roethlisberger era of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Speaking personally, he has been the quarterback of my favorite team for a bit more than half of my life.
I do remember watching Neil O’Donnell throw two dagger interceptions in Super Bowl XXX, and I was a big fan of Kordell Stewart. But Big Ben was Pittsburgh personified for many fans who have come into the game over the past two or three decades.
And he also defined one of the great rivalries in modern team sports, that being between the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, who are fittingly the final team he is likely to ever face1.