Ben Roethlisberger’s comments were odd for Steelers and Chiefs

Ben Roethlisberger could potentially be playing his last game on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs on Wild Card weekend. Fans and media alike have poked fun at the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback by calling the game a “retirement party,” given the Steelers are -12.5 point underdogs and no one is really giving them much of a chance to beat the red hot Kansas City Chiefs.

To the public’s surprise, Roethlisberger even seemed to acknowledge that he and the Steelers have no shot this weekend when speaking to the media earlier this week.

"“We’re probably 20 point underdogs and we’re going to the #1 team, I know they’re not the #1 seed but they’ve won the AFC the last two years, arguably the best team in football … we don’t have a chance,” “So let’s just go in and have fun.”“Out of the 14 teams that are in, we’re probably number 14. We’re double-digit underdogs in the playoffs. So, let’s just go play, have fun and see what happens.”“I hope we don’t go in and get blown out by 20 to 30 points,” Roethlisberger said. “We just go in and hope we keep it close.”"

Big Ben’s comments to the media did not go over well

Obviously, Roethlisberger’s comments were said in jest, at least we think, but honestly, we couldn’t tell because of the way he said it so flat and monotone. Either way, those words aren’t ones fans should be happy about hearing from their veteran quarterback.

It’s one thing to give yourself bulletin board material because I get the sense that’s what Roethlisberger was going for, but that does not mean you should actually say you have no shot publicly. If anything, it shows that he’s listening and feeding into the outside noise. Of course, other players do but they rarely acknowledge it publicly, and when they do, they don’t pretend to be in the same boat as the people giving them zero chance.

Plus, it’s not like Big Ben is pulling this narrative out of nowhere or just got it from scrolling through Twitter. Surely he has to have the thought in the back of his mind as well that the Steelers aren’t really that good. He’s not being honest with himself otherwise. At best what making these comments does is make Roethlisberger look bad because he knows what he said is a fact but is attempting to use it as reverse psychology. Either way, he’s admitting that’s what he believes and it doesn’t take a genius to see through that.

It would be a little different if these two teams simply hadn’t played before and everyone was just picking the Chiefs. However, these two teams just met and it was a blowout for the Chiefs. So everyone already knows for a fact the Chiefs are capable of housing the Steelers and you follow up by saying you hope not to lose by 20 or 30? That aspect of it just made what he said to sound a little too true. “Let’s just go out there and have fun?”. Sarcasm or not, that’s not something that would get me fired up to play if I’m a player for Pittsburgh.

Roethlisberger’s teammates have also given off the impression that his teammates are not in agreement on this approach. There was buzz circulating yesterday that Steelers running back Najee Harris was confused by his quarterback’s words when he posted a screenshot of the interview on his Instagram story questioning it.

Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson also came out yesterday and reversed the tone set by his quarterback without stating that was the intention by saying “Once we win don’t try to hop back on the bandwagon”.

The way Steelers players view this game seems to be inconsistent across the board, which actually makes you appreciate the way the Chiefs and their organization have been taught to handle talking to the media. Andy Reid did not downplay the Steelers whatsoever in his media session by saying the Steelers “have been playing like a No. 1 seed right now.” Patrick Mahomes followed up by saying they are not reading into who is on the other side and that they treat every playoff game the same way.

Chiefs fans should hope that what Roethlisberger said actually becomes reality on Sunday. Besides the part about the Steelers having fun of course. For ages, the Chiefs were on the opposite end of this game and the Steelers had the unstoppable offense and loaded roster on both sides. Now, the Chiefs have a chance to send the man who owned them in years past home for good.