When Ben Roethlisberger plays, listen to the announcers.  It’s like Grantland Rose is in the booth.  They fawn over his resilient spirit and gritty performances through pain.  It’s as if Bear Bryant’s playing quarterback.  And Ben loves it.  His toughness is without question, but his embellishment is without question as well.  His limp is never more evident then after a poor throw or turnover.  How many times are we going to be impressed with his injured performances if he’s always injured?  Rather than keep his mouth shut and play through whatever pain he was experiencing, he had to put a 50 percent estimate on his health.  What purpose does giving yourself a mediocre health ranking, other than to bask in the glory of playing through it or have an excuse for a loss? Plus, I know all those people who picked him as their starting quarterback in a fantasy football playoff league are now kicking themselves after that debacle at Mile High Stadium last Sunday.  I’m in no position to say that Ben Roethlisberger isn’t tough.  He’s undoubtedly determined.  He’s a winner and gets those wins doing whatever he must do (most of the time).  But he’s also immature.

His indiscretions are well documented.  He allegedly sexually assaulted two separate women.  He was never charged with the crimes, but that didn’t stop the public’s perception of Roethlisberger from changing.  It would be unfair to assume him guilty, but what we know is that he put himself in a scene that isn’t fitting for a Super Bowl winning quarterback.  He shouldn’t be partying at some trashy club in Georgia with 20-year olds.  Everybody in the world would like to be famous, successful, and hedonistic with no repercussions, but we make decisions based on our priorities. He risked his position with the Steelers with the 2010 incident, and was nearly traded for a top 10-draft pick.  It’s been around a year since Roethlisberger’s mishap, but I’m still not convinced.  His drama queen, pseudo-tough guy persona is just another manifestation of his immaturity.  And the more we, as an audience, feed into this image of him, the more Ben believes it himself.