Move over Trent Dilfer. After the Packers’ 31-25 victory over the Steelers Sunday, there’s a new most-overrated-Super-Bowl-winning quarterback.
And he wasn’t the one hoisting Lombardi’s trophy high into the Arlington air.
Super Bowl XLV kindly proved what I’ve been saying all along – Ben Roethlisberger is not that good.
He’ll break a couple tackles from semi-truck sized men and do just enough for the Steel Curtain 2.0 to cover his tail.
But to put him into the conversation of greatest quarterbacks ever makes as much sense as Erie’s one-way streets.
He’s not even the Steelers’ all-time best quarterback. Being second on a list with Tommy Maddox is less impressive than a new Ke$ha album.
When Ben and his Super Bowl rings are mentioned, people fawn. I yawn.
Sunday finally raised the veil on this big, fat phony. He had no Lombardi trophy to cover up his mistakes this time around.
Despite playing like an average quarterback, he was given one last chance to win the game and go undefeated on the worlds’ biggest stage.
Ben could’ve showed everyone that he had the ability to shake off three poorly played quarters and prove he was great.
Instead of putting a seal on his third Super Bowl, Ben threw three straight incompletions to end the game.
Roethlisberger is 2-1 in championships and has thrown just three touchdowns to his five interceptions.
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Kurt Warner and Aaron Rodgers have combined to throw six interceptions – in 11 Super Bowl appearances.
He even receives way too much credit for his Super Bowl wins.
Against Seattle, Antwaan Randle El saved Ben’s atrocious 9-of-21, two-interception performance by throwing the nicest pass of the game to a wide-open Hines Ward.
Add Willie Parker’s record-breaking run and no one remembers Roethlisberger’s self-destruction.
Fast forward to Super Bowl XLIII and Ben, who was out-dueled by counterpart Kurt Warner, was the beneficiary of 100-yard interception return before the half by James Harrison to give the Steelers the momentum.
The legendary catch made by Santonio Holmes to beat the Cardinals was just that – a legendary catch.
It was Holmes’ hands, not Ben’s arm, which saved the day.
Throughout his career, Roethlisberger has been blessed with a defense that Brady and Manning would kill for, the size that Brees dreams of, the pedigree that Warner never had and the opportunities that Rodgers was never given.
Yet, when it has mattered in the Super Bowl, he has done less with more and that makes him – two rings or not – overrated.
Just like sticking feathers in your hat doesn’t make you a bird, putting rings on your fingers doesn’t make you a great quarterback.
