The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered an extremely disappointing loss on Sunday at the hands of the Cleveland Browns, which officially put an end to what started as very promising season for them.
For his part, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked to comment about his performance. While Roethlisberger threw for over 500 yards and four touchdowns, his four interceptions were a killer. The veteran noticeably struggled during the latter part of the season after starting 11-0, which helped result in five losses in six games.
The 38-year-old provided a brutally honest assessment of his lackluster efforts down the stretch of the season:
“It wasn't good enough,” Roethlisberger said of his performances, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. “When you lose a game like this, you can look back and evaluate all you want on the season, how you did during this game, that game, runs, stretches. I mean, at some point, we'll look back on the whole thing.
“But when it doesn't end the way you want it to, you're always going to feel some kind of way, like you came up short or it's your fault.”
Naturally, Roethlisberger was then confronted with the question on everybody's mind regarding his potential retirement:
“It's going to start between me and God, a lot of praying. A lot of talking with my family, discussions, decisions. I still have a year left on my contract,” he said. “I hope the Steelers want me back, if that's the way we go. There will be a lot of discussions. But now is not the time for that.
“This loss is fresh. It's just sitting on our hearts and our minds right now. It will for a while.”
As Roethlisberger said above, Sunday's loss is a tough, tough pill to swallow. This is something that he will need to process before even thinking about the next step in what has been an illustrious career for the future Hall of Famer. The veteran surely doesn't want to go out like this and has reportedly hinted at a desire to return, but he still has to think about it.