Ben Roethlisberger is retiring after 18 seasons as quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I don’t know how to put into words what the game of football has meant to me,” Roethlisberger stated via a tweeted video announcement on Thursday, in which the future Hall of Famer thanked the Steelers organization and fanbase for their support.
Roethlisberger retires as one of the most successful quarterbacks of his era. A two-time Super Bowl champion (XL, XLIII), ‘Big Ben’ earned six Pro Bowl appearances and was the 2004 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year after being selected by the Steelers (11th overall) out of Miami University in the 2004 NFL Draft.
Roethlisberger was also a two-time league passing yards leader (2014, 2018) and ranks high among numerous career statistical categories, including: passing yards (5th, 64,088), passer rating (12th, 94.3), yards per attempt (tied-9th, 7.8), and completion percentage among quarterbacks with a minimum of 1,500 career attempts (tied-12th, 64.4%). He also has the fourth-highest career regular season winning percentage (.710) among starting quarterbacks with a minimum of 100 starts, and he is one of six in NFL history to have beaten at least 31 of the current 32 NFL teams.