It’s taken some time this season, but Ben Roethlisberger has once again proved himself to be an elite quarterback in the NFL.  Big Ben is coming off his best game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens.  It was quite a night where the Steelers quarterback set a career high with 66 pass attempts, and threw for over 500 yards.  Performances like that are what will be required now if Pittsburgh expects to win its seventh Super Bowl.

Roehtlisberger and the offense will have to dominate games going forward to make up for a defense that is in shambles.  Without Ryan Shazier, the Pittsburgh defense was badly exposed.  The Ravens pitiful offense moved the ball at will to the tune of 38 points.  We can hope things will improve once they settle on a replacement for Shazier, and get Joe Haden back in the fold.  It is a unit however that was overrated by most to begin with this season. Now without Shazier to rely on,they will struggle mightily the rest of the way.  The good news is that Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the offense is good enough to overcome this.  This team sports the best wide receiver in the league in Antonio Brown, and arguably the best running back in Le’veon Bell.  Not to mention a very good offensive line, and a pretty good supporting cast of skill players.

All that said, the fait of this team falls squarely on the shoulders of number 7.  This team will not succeed in the play-offs without their franchise quarterbackplaying at an elite level.  Big Ben has a chance to establish himself as an all time great with a Super Bowl run in 2017.  Roethlisberger has always been considered a level down from the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings of the world.  A third Super bowl title would go a long way in changing that view, particularly if he had to carry the team on his shoulders.  It wouldn’t hurt his reputation if they were able to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots a couple of times in the process.

The bottom line is Ben Roethlisberger has the ability and the surrounding talent to pull this off.  The offense is finally producing at the level that has been teased to us for two straight seasons.   The legacy of both he, and his franchise are at stake over the next several weeks.  It all starts this week with an epic confrontation with the Patriots at Hienze feild on Sunday.