Is Ben Roethlisberger going to retire?

The controversy started on Roethlisberger’s weekly radio show, where the Steelers quarterback said the following, after being asked if he would return to play in 2017:

“I’m going to take this offseason to evaluate, to consider all options… To consider health, and family and things like that and just kind of take some time away to evaluate next season, if there’s going to be a next season.

I’m going to take some time and evaluate with my family and just do a lot of praying about it and make sure it’s the right thing for me and my family.”

Read: if there’s going to be a next season.

Could there be any more pain or frustration in Ben’s words, two days removed from losing an AFC Championship game against a team Pittsburgh fans have disliked for a long time?

Ed Bouchette tells us not to take Big Ben’s words too seriously, but should we? (Ben also mentions it doesn’t mean he “isn’t coming back” either.)

I honestly believe Ben is poking back at some social media scapegoating, where unruly fans and opposing trolls have attacked the quarterback. Here at SCU, we have the privilege of seeing some of the nasty things that are said to players via the Internet, and I imagine snapping a 9-game win streak, and falling short of a Super Bowl appearance at the hands of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, has only amplified those remarks.

Heck, here at SCU we’ve been receiving all sorts of nasty comments as well, and we’re only super-fans who are a little more privileged to talk about this team!

Personally, I don’t see it happening, but you can never say never. If you think the mental anguish of losing that game as a fan is bad, imagine being one of the players… and on top of that, those players have the physical grind, the travel, the time away from friends and family, and constant distractions of being in the public eye.

Consider it was only three weeks ago that Sports Illustrated had a cover story “hit piece” aimed at making Ben look like the most “polarizing” player in the NFL. Combine that with all of the other nasty sentiments and ungrateful fans (a 4-5 team made the conference championship game after all) and you can see where our quarterback might “need some time”.

Roethlisberger has just completed the 1st of a new 4-year, $87 million contract with a $31 million signing bonus. Signed through 2019, could Ben be so hurt that he’d hold the Steelers franchise hostage with their largest cap hit; and another $31 million guarantee? (Also be aware that Ben would not only lose some of that compensation, he could be forced to pay back some of the signing bonus, should he retire early.)

I have reason to believe Ben is a player of higher integrity than that, and even if he did suffer the rigors of football throughout the season, this game, and fan reactions, clearly got under his skin to where he won’t have to be in front of another press conference to address matters anytime soon. I think his emotions are bottled up, and it stings to have let that game slip away.

Perhaps Brett Favre summed it up best:

HOF QB @Favre4Official: What Big Ben is feeling is the last thing I want to think about is football. Takes the loss so personal. #Steelers

— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) January 24, 2017

On the other hand, much is being made of Antonio Brown being a distraction these days, and the usual fishing for offseason stories is starting to point at a potential trade, or no extension, for the Steelers star receiver.

Let’s be clear, when Mike Tomlin said the following, I believe he was talking about some former locker room head aches, i.e. real troublemakers such as Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson/Ochocinco:

“That’s often why you see great players move from team to team… don’t want that to happen to Antonio Brown.”

“Don’t want that to happen to Antonio Brown.”

As in, AB isn’t as big of a distraction as people are making him out to be. Some are talking about a tirade during the New England game about getting the ball.

Look, your best players want to perform to the best of their ability. AB probably didn’t have the impact he wanted, but some of that is out of his hands.

Does anyone else recall Le’Veon Bell wanting to close out a game in San Diego last season?

You give your best players the chance to do right by your team: that’s how you win games, right?

So is Brown asking for the ball a big deal?

Not all all, but that’s my outside opinion.

Update: Antonio Brown appears to have not “complained” at all, according to several looks at the game film, but he may have off camera.

We saw what happens in the locker room, courtesy of a Facebook Live stream that Antonio put on his profile a week ago; but that too was more disappointing for it’s timing rather than the actual act of doing so.

Heck, even coach Mike Tomlin has been in on the “live” deal before. Furthermore, it appears that Facebook may have offered Brown a six figure deal to push their oft-advertised platform.

We all know AB is going to command a big money contract, and many think the Steelers front office might balk at giving it to him.

Once again, I’m going to say our beloved receiver is going nowhere. Kevin Colbert and company have gone out of their way to shift some of Brown’s contract money forward during the last two seasons, as a means of appeasing the wideout, who has far outplayed his contract. The Steelers realize his value, and returned the favor.

Brown on the other hand, hasn’t been the distraction, nor the training camp holdout Mike Wallace was. Wallace’s numbers declined as he wanted more money, and his career has seen him bounce between three teams since leaving Pittsburgh.

AB’s biggest crime? Having too much fun.

Sure the celebrations have come with costly fines and flags on the field, but what has Antonio really done otherwise? Has he ever carried a loaded weapon into a public place, failed a drug test, gotten into altercations at night clubs, been publicly intoxicated or so much as criticized any of his own teammates in a postgame interview?

None of the above!

Then why do people feel that Brown, a player who has literally been nothing but a productive one (generating statistics for which they have to create NFL records for) would be pushed out of Pittsburgh? This isn’t Santonio Holmes, who got into a fight at a night club, and was also suspended for substance abuse.

Consider too, that Pittsburgh is looking to retain Le’Veon Bell, a player who has been suspended for unfortunate circumstances, when you realize he hasn’t failed an NFL drug test, but was punished for an offseason mishap with former teammate LeGarrette Blount, and a mishap with his scheduling for a test nearly a year ago.

And they have yet to release, trade, or otherwise try to move Martavis Bryant.

So we can relax Steelers Nation: Blount is gone. Bell is not. Bryant is not.

And Brown, like Ben, aren’t likely to be going anywhere.