Ben would play for the last time at Heinz Field

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said last week that this Monday night’s game against the Cleveland Browns could be his last at Heinz Field.

“I won’t speak definitively. It’s not what I do, but looking at the big picture, all signs point to the fact that this could be [my last game at Heinz Field]. The regular season gives us a chance to have a playoff game, but in the big picture, it might be,” Roethlisberger said at a press conference last Thursday.

Roethlisberger, who returned this year after cutting his salary in the preseason, has played his entire 18-year career with the Steelers after being drafted with the No. 11 overall selection in the 2004 draft.

Roethlisberger had not publicly acknowledged that the 2021 season would be the last of his career, but this had been expected in the organization for some time, and he began telling some in the franchise as well as his former teammates of his plans earlier this month.

“It’s 18 years, almost half my life I’ve given to this city and this team and the fans,” the 39-year-old quarterback sentenced. “But the fun thing is I still know what I have in the tank to go out this week and next week and give everything I have to do everything I can to get us to the postseason. That’s always the ultimate goal, to win us a Lombardi [Trophy]. That’s still my goal. We’re not out of it yet.”

The stakes are high for what will likely be their final home game of the regular season. The Steelers are out of the playoffs at this point with two games to play.

But should they beat the Browns, a divisional rival that eliminated them from the playoffs in the Wild Card Round last year, Pittsburgh will stay alive in the quest for a postseason ticket.

“My focus is to win this game. If it’s my last regular season game here, it will be one of the most important games of my career. What better way to have a potential last game in the regular season than Monday Night Football against a division opponent. It’s just special,” said the veteran.

Roethlisberger is in his 18th NFL season and in the final year of his contract with the Steelers. He is 39 years old and will turn 40 in March and has seen all of his fellow 2004 draft classmates, such as Eli Manning and Philip Rivers, end their careers in the recent past, so he is expected to be next.