I know what you are thinking: “here we go again, another Steelers Fan going off the reservation”. But hear me out, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. For all of your 49ers fans that would think comparing the Great Joe to another human being is sacrilegious, relax… Big Ben can potentially be much better. Numbers don’t lie my friends, that’ why I am in sales.
Joe Montana played from ’79 through ’94 and won four Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV). He holds every conceivable playoff record and he’s 4-0 in Super Bowl appearances ( Brett Favre recently surpassed him on yardage and TD’s but he doesn’t have four rings to show for it). He’s also the only QB to never thrown an interception in any of his Super Bowl appearances. He’s arguably the best QB to ever played the game. He’s best known as the “comeback kid” due to his unshakable demeanor when the game was on the line, with 31 come-from-behind wins. Impressive
Impressive indeed, and at 27, Big Ben leads all QB’s in the NFL with 15 come-from-behind wins. 2010 will be his sixth year in the league; therefore,at this rate, if he were to play 15 seasons as Joe Montana did, he will shatter Montana’s come-from-behind numbers. He’s also undefeated in his two Super Bowl appearances. As Montana, Big Ben won two Super Bowls in a four-year span. Ben Roethlisberger has arguably a better Defense to rely on than Montana did during his Super Bowl years so it is conceivable that Big Ben has a real shot at becoming the best QB to ever play the game….
Now, this is where reality hits. The game has evolved, from the rules to the players. They are bigger, stronger, and smarter than they were years ago. Competition is fierce and in today’s NFL, we have more talented QB’s than we did in the 80’s. Joe Montana didn’t really have a QB he could measure himself up with, his teams dominated the 80’s. Big Ben on the other hand, has Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers ( every one of them, except the latter, has won at least one championship in the last decade ) and let’s be honest, if you don’t have an elite QB, you are not winning the championship.
Given Big Ben’s success at such an early stage in his career can have many thinking, he’s well on his way to be … The Greatest Quarterback to ever lived. However, one man can not do it all (ask Peyton Manning) it’s a team sport and you win and lose as a team. Big Ben broke a lot of Steelers’ records , in passing, completion percentage, yards per game, just to name a few, yet we didn’t even make the playoffs, thanks to a five game losing streak that stretched from November into December, mostly due to the defense’s inability to find a way to compensate for the loss of key players Aaron Smith and Troy Polamalu…
All I am saying is that there is a chance, a chance that in 2004 the Steelers might have drafted the next Joe Montana… or better yet… the ONLY Big Ben. Bring on 2010, HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!
George's Man Cave 