When discussing the greatest Steelers quarterback of all time, it's Ben Roethlisberger vs. Terry Bradshaw and third place isn't even close.
But Roethlisberger vs. Bradshaw?
Oh yes. That's a debate. Easy answers await if you want to kick up the recliner and lazily tackle the discussion.
Prefer Super Bowl victories? Bradshaw had four to Roethlisberger's two. Bag 'em up.
Prefer volume stats? Roethlisberger has thrown for over 56,000 yards and 363 touchdowns in his career. Bradshaw had only 27,989 and 212, respectively. It's not even a contest.
But then you start digging and poking and prodding, as I've done for longer than I care to admit over the past two days. In this process, I made a startling realization: Roethlisberger has been the Steelers starting quarterback for more than half my life, including all of my adult life (and counting). So for me, through my lens, the debate seemed obvious.
Just look at the stats, right? Roethlisberger ranks in the top 10 all-time in yards (sixth), completions (seventh) and touchdowns (seventh). Bradshaw is nowhere near any of those lists.
But then you see the Super Bowls. Then you consider the eras. Then you weigh their relative dominance... It's not a simple debate.
Let's start here.
Part 1: Context, context, context
"They throw the ball more now!"
Yeah, that's true. The average team has thrown for 224 yards per game throughout Roethlisberger's 15-year career to-date. For Bradshaw, the number is 169 yards per game.
And guess what? They also play more games today. Bradshaw played over half of his career — from 1970 up to 1978 — in the 14-game-regular-season era. So despite playing 14 seasons to Roethlisberger's 15, Bradshaw actually appeared in 48 fewer games. That's a handicap of three current-day seasons on his stats.
As such, I broke down their metrics on a per-game basis instead:
That's a little more interesting, eh? Roethlisberger, even when accounting for the discrepancy in games played, takes all major categories, including comebacks and game-winning drives. But the race suddenly became closer.
And it becomes even closer when you factor in...
2. No, seriously, the passing game was just different
The league-wide passing statistics during Bradshaw's era are hilarious. In 13 out of 14 of Bradshaw's seasons, the league threw more interceptions than touchdowns. The one season that wasn't the case — 1983 — Bradshaw played in just one game, and the overall gap was small. Teams threw for 625 touchdowns and 620 interceptions that year.
That's never happened since Roethlisberger entered the league in 2004. It hasn't even been close, with the narrowest margin coming in 2006, with 648 touchdowns to 520 picks, a difference of 128.
Last season, for a more dramatic comparison, teams threw for 847 touchdowns against just 419 interceptions, a gulf of 428. In seven of Bradshaw's seasons, the league didn't even throw for 428 touchdowns combined, let alone outpace interceptions thrown by that margin.
When you browse through the data, you can uncover gem after gem like this. The fact is undeniable and striking: Passing the football was less common, less effective and less important during Bradshaw's era.
If you're comparing quarterbacks, that is just a little important.
3. So what now?
A useful way to frame that fact is to compare player averages against league averages.
Roethlisberger's career averages of 260.2 yards per game, 1.7 touchdowns per game and 0.88 interceptions per game are all better than league averages (224.4 yards per game, 1.47 touchdowns per game and 0.93 interceptions per game, respectively).
Bradshaw, meanwhile, threw more touchdowns per game (1.25) vs. the league average of 1.16 during his career. He also threw fewer picks per game (1.26 vs. 1.39). But his 166.6 yards per game were actually below the league average of 168.8.
It's a clean sweep for Roethlisberger vs. two out of three for Bradshaw — a small difference, but one that matters in such a tight race.
4. Those Lombardis...
If you're picking Bradshaw in this race, you undoubtedly will point to his trophy case every chance you get. Four Super Bowl appearances, four Super Bowl wins. It's a powerful stat contrasted against Roethlisberger's three appearances and two wins.
You also have to consider, of course, that Steel Curtain defense. They played a bit of a part in all the winning, too. Here is a list of every time the Steelers brought a top-five defense to the field throughout Bradshaw's career:
• 1973: Fourth
• 1974: First (won Super Bowl)
• 1975: Fourth (won Super Bowl)
• 1976: First
• 1978: Third (won Super Bowl)
• 1979: Second (won Super Bowl)
• 1983: Third
Roethlisberger had his fair share of help too, though:
• 2004: First
• 2005: Fourth (won Super Bowl)
• 2007: First
• 2008: First (won Super Bowl)
• 2009: fifth
• 2010: Second (lost Super Bowl)
• 2011: First
• 2012: First
• 2017: Fifth
In the playoffs, Bradshaw is 14-5 with an 83.0 passer rating. Roethlisberger, in a close race, is 13-8 with an 86.5 passer rating in the postseason.
But here's Bradshaw's trump card when you start discussing accolades: He took home Super Bowl MVP honors — twice. He was the league MVP and first-team All-Pro once (1978).
Roethlisberger can claim none of those.
Now, Bradshaw's first two Super Bowl appearances left plenty to be desired. In 1974, Bradshaw went 9 for 14 for 96 yards and a touchdown with zero picks. In 1975, he went 9 for 19 for 209 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Franco Harris and Lynn Swann took home MVP honors in those games.
In 1978 and 1979, however, it was all Bradshaw. He went 17 for 30 for 318 yards, four touchdowns and one interception (a 119.2 rating) in 1978 before turning around and going 14 for 21 for 309 yards with two touchdowns and three picks (a 101.9 rating) the following year.
In Roethlisberger's three Super Bowl appearances, he hasn't once eclipsed a 100.0 rating. He wasn't the best player on the field in either Super Bowl victory, either. He was a dreadful 9 for 21 for 123 yards and two interceptions (22.6 rating) in 2005, when Hines Ward took home MVP honors. He fared better in 2008, going 21 for 30 for 256 yards with one touchdown and one pick. But Santonio Holmes took home the MVP in that one. To be fair, Roethlisberger's game-winning drive — and pass in particular — in 2008 is among the greatest of all time. But he never dominated the big game start to finish as Bradshaw did.
And Bradshaw did it twice.
Add that to Bradshaw's regular-season MVP in 1978, and a powerful fact becomes clear. You can reasonably claim Bradshaw was the best player in the NFL for a full season and you can say Bradshaw was the best player on his team in a Super Bowl victory.
You can't do that for Roethlisberger. He's never been the best quarterback in the league over the course of a season. He's had peaks in individual games Bradshaw can't even sniff. But where sustained overall success is concerned, Bradshaw has him topped with that 1978 All-Pro and MVP season.
5. The verdict
Through all this, I think a few things become clear. If you could magically drop Roethlisberger into Bradshaw's era, he would have dominated the game even more than Bradshaw did. As a pure passer and quarterback, he's just better.
But it doesn't work like that.
When you consider how the game's changed, the only useful context comes as we outlined above. You have to maintain those league averages and the differences in style if you want to create a meaningful comparison. When you do that, it becomes the tightest of tight races.
But I can't get over this: Bradshaw, in 1978, was named the best player in the league as well as Super Bowl MVP. He took home Super Bowl MVP again the next season. He called his own plays and put up 2,257 rushing yards with 32 rushing touchdowns to Roethlisberger's 1,350 and 19 touchdowns. Bradshaw also played better in bigger moments.
Roethlisberger's volume stats and single-game records amaze, but does it really trump that?
I don't think so. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm taking Bradshaw.
Bonus: Just for fun...
I had to bring the debate to my dad and two of my uncles, all diehard Steelers fans who lived through both Bradshaw and Roethlisberger. Their insights are scarily in-line with what I determined after analyzing all the data. I cleaned up some grammar, etc. a bit but left the flavor when necessary.
Uncle Blaine: "That's a tough one but if I had to pick one, I would pick Big Ben. I think it's two different eras. Ben would have been a superstar back then and Bradshaw would have been mediocre and maybe not even start in this era. So if I was starting a team today with Bradshaw and Ben right out of college, I would pick Ben, and that's all I'm gonna say about that hahaha"
Dad: "Man, that's a tough one. So many variables. Terry called his own plays which is a big plus. Ben won't even call a f'n QB sneak. lol. Terry had the better weapons ... and four Super Bowls. I think I answered your question. You can't add two Super Bowls to Ben's stats."
Uncle Bernie: "Wow! A lot to take into consideration. Steelers were a team then. Ben has to be QB, babysitter, cheerleader and sometimes coach! In today's NFL probably Ben. In my heart, TB. The greatest of all time.
"It's hard to compare athletes from years gone by to ones today. They're all bigger, stronger, faster and probably smarter (obviously not in all cases). I just remember and enjoy those memories of that era."
Want to dive in for yourself?
