Kovacevic: Ben's misfires, health, future overshadow even this collapse

CINCINNATI -- I'd seen Ben Roethlisberger this way only once before.

Off the field, I mean. I'd never seen him this way on the field.

It was 2013, and we were in London of all places. Those Steelers had just fallen to 0-4 with an awful loss to the equally winless Vikings at Wembley Stadium and, for the first time I could recall, had no answers. He stood at his stall, staring over the cameras and microphones rather than into them, seemingly searching for something to say. Which made sense in the moment. He'd never experienced this. Born into a Super Bowl, his entire NFL career to that point, he'd been surrounded by brilliance. And he still was in that cramped, completely silent room. Troy Polamalu. Alan Faneca. Heath Miller. All they'd ever done is win, win, win.

Until that. And as it turned out, it truly was the beginning of the end of that generational group that'd claimed two rings.

Now, it's 2020, and we're at Paul Brown Stadium of all bloody places. These Steelers started out 11-0, of course, and they've now lost three in a row, lowlighted by this beyond-description 27-17 debacle at the pathetic hands of the practice-squad-level Bengals, primarily through their fourth-string quarterback and second-string running back.

And I saw it again. I'm sure of it. Only this time, it wasn't about the team.

I asked Ben, soon after what possibly was the worst individual passing performance of his life, if he could find any encouragement, any positive in this airtight spiral that found Diontae Johnson for a 23-yard touchdown:

I knew what his answer would be, to tell the truth, but I wondered how he'd offer it. That's often more telling than the response itself.

And oh, my ...

"I’ll have to look at it and figure it out," he'd reply. "Right now, it doesn’t feel like there were many positives."

Understand, in the past, Ben's always embraced these questions, especially after a rough showing. He'd at least weigh in on the play, if only to praise the other party.

Not this one. Not close.

____________________

And there'd be more ...

Did Cincinnati's varied defensive looks keep him off balance?

"I wasn’t good enough."

Why has the offense as a whole been inconsistent?

"I would say that I’m not consistent enough, which affects the offense because the ball is in my hand every play."

What's the level of frustration and concern?

"High. High frustration."

The statistics don't touch the story, much less tell it. Not that they were pretty: 20 of 38 for 170 yards, the touchdown, an interception, a sack and a fumbled snap that were part of three pivotal turnovers, all in a stunning, surreal first half in which the Steelers produced two total first downs, 40 total yards of offense on 29 plays, and Ben was 7 of 16 for 19 yards.

Nineteen yards!

Against the Bengals!

But no, to fully fathom the depths, there's got to be film:

If I added them all, this column would be unsuitable for a family audience.

Of those 18 incompletions, by my count, eight were on flagrant misfires, and five others forced his receivers into compromised positions. Three more passes easily could've been interceptions against a competent secondary, in addition to the one that actually was. And maybe most excruciating, on the day Ben and Randy Fichtner finally, finally committed to the deep pass, he attempted 12 passes of 10-plus yards ... and completed just the one up there to Diontae.

One of 12!

This was supposed to be the unleashing, but it only served to unmask what the Steelers, now obviously, had been hiding for a while: It's not that Ben doesn't want to do this. It's that he can't.

Why is that?

Well, it's not as if anyone will admit this, much less elaborate. Though attempts were made.

Is he hurt?

I asked Mike Tomlin to explain Ben's inaccuracy, including whether or not it's injury-related. He responded, "No, it’s not injury-related. It just wasn’t good enough like all of us, me included. We have to be better."

And has Ben's arm looked weaker in the season's second half?

"Not from my perspective, no."

The injury possibilities will be top of mind for most, particularly coming off the elbow surgery and with his right knee visibly bugging him at times. But the head coach won't support it in the slightest, even if it'd give his most important player a respite from outside criticism. That, plus Ben being a full participant in practice, has me sold that he's ... if not 100%, then not exactly walking wounded.

Still, it takes no more than a second swing through those misfires up there to see that his passes are flying wounded and that what might be causing that is a reluctance to push off on the crucial back leg.

Possible injuries came up with Ben, too.

Asked if his arm is 100%, he came back, "Well, I don’t think anybody who plays this game at any position, whether it's Week 1 or Week 16, feels 100%. No, I wouldn’t say that I feel 100%, but nobody does right now."

That wasn't a denial.

Asked if it takes longer to get the elbow warmed up in cooler weather -- it was 31 degrees at kickoff here -- he came back, "Nope."

Probably the closest anything came to making sense was Tomlin stating for the first time that the offense needs "to start faster," and from there, several players -- even Cam Heyward, the defensive captain -- repeating that same phrase in that same context. If that isn't aimed at Ben, I can't imagine what it'd be, since he's the one who's had the hardest time connecting until the third quarter for the past month and change.

Does he need to throw more balls in practice, as Fichtner strikingly mentioned earlier this month?

Would that just wear down the arm of a 38-year-old who already claimed once this season that he's been at his best when he's practiced less?

Will it now become a civic cause that he shouldn't be allowed to bypass Wednesdays, even though he and most veterans have done so for years?

Or ... and I write this with no joy ... are we stripped-down talking about a quarterback who's just too old to be doing this anymore?

It's one thing to talk about overthrows and underthrows, bad reads and bad timing. But when it's all of those and more, when there isn't a single aspect of his game going smoothly, and when it's clear his confidence is being crushed to an unprecedented degree ... my friends, that comes with the feel of someone who's falling off faster than any of us could be comfortable conceding.

If that comes across as mean, so be it. Because this didn't start here. It's been building since early November, even if just as subtext amid all that winning. The Ravens were the first to smoke it out a month ago by bringing the house to the line of scrimmage. Washington followed suit by bringing the entire housing complex, and the Bills and now the Bengals did likewise.

My goodness, on the Steelers' final offensive play, a fourth-and-10 at the Pittsburgh 24, look at this freeze-frame of the pressure Cincinnati was bringing:

That's laughing at the opponent.

No, wait, that's the Bengals laughing at the opponent.

But it worked: The pressure collapsed the pocket, with both ends converging on the quarterback, and Ben overthrew James Washington, who'd carved good body position but, alas, couldn't grow to 10 feet tall to bring it down.

And when I say laughing, I mean laughing.

____________________

Ben's been terrible. He's had company, and I've no intention of painting this otherwise.

JuJu Smith-Schuster's become an unproductive clown. He'd been a clown all along, lovable to some, not so much to others, though that can be cute to everyone when one is achieving more than, oh, three catches for 15 yards. Or when one hasn't had a 100-yard receiving output all season. Or in 25 of his past 26 games.

I typically don't care about frivolity like this, much less comment on it, but here's what he did again before this game:

I remember when the idiotic behavior in this building was the domain of the home team. 

This is idiotic behavior in any walk of life. And more important, in this walk of life, it comes with no impact on his team.

Wait, that's not correct:

That's some impact. To boot, it came from Cincinnati safety Vonn Bell, who earlier in the week dubbed JuJu's repeated dancing on team logos as "disrespectful" and vowed to do something about it on the field if he could. So something turned out to be the player getting clocked, the ball being fumbled, and the Bengals taking a 10-0 lead.

Coincidence?

Not according to its author:

What did Vonn Bell see on the play when he hit JuJu Smith-Schuster? "I seen 19." *big smile* @WLWT #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZURCar4NNk

— Brandon Saho (@BrandonSaho) December 22, 2020

Talk about laughing.

Heck, the laughter was coming from last-place brethren in other sports:

It was one thing to let Antonio Brown bring down the off-the-field bar. He'd at least partake in the game at a level befitting such behavior. It's high time the head coach and/or anyone associated with the franchise sat the clown down and tell him, if he wants to dance, he's got to do so amid a virtual backdrop of his receiving stats.

It's hardly just JuJu, either.

James Conner, who's more than welcome to join JuJu in free agency this spring, missed yet another game. 

Alejandro Villanueva was eaten alive by the Bengals' Carl Lawson and, if Zach Banner hadn't gotten hurt, he'd long since have been replaced at left tackle. 

Bud Dupree's deeply missed, and I'm not saying that so much because Alex Highsmith was scorched for a touchdown but because the Steelers are now 0-3 without him. This defense was elite with Bud. It isn't without Bud. Ryan Finley would've been pushing daisies in the Cincinnati backfield if Bud and T.J. Watt were both pursuing.

The offensive coordinator thought fourth-and-10, final chance to keep the game alive, was a swell time to keep Chase Claypool on the sideline. Again.

Still, it all swings back to Ben.

Everything I just cited could sing in the sweetest of harmonies, and JuJu could spend his entire week on Tik Tok extolling via rhythm and rhyme the virtues of the coming opponent, and it wouldn't matter a whit if the quarterback can't throw the ball where he'd like.

I wish I had all the answers for what's wrong with Ben. I really do. But here and now, I'll have to settle for these three things I'll say on the subject with gusto:

1. It ain't Mason Rudolph, not now, not then, and definitely not next week, unless one wants to see how quickly the Colts' furious front seven can cannibalize a checkdown quarterback while barely being bumped by the left tackle.

2. It ain't coincidence that Ben's agent, Ryan Tollner, reached out to his longtime texting pal, Adam Schefter of ESPN, early yesterday to break the big non-news of the day that, hey, everyone, Ben's going to be back in 2021! (Even though Ben had already stated as much himself on multiple occasions.) Because this headline, right before facing the lowly Bengals, would be perfectly timed to remind everyone at the South Side HQ that he'd be worth every penny of that $41.25 million cap hit next fall. (Even though ... yeah, about that.)

3. It ain't about the playoffs anymore. It ain't even about the AFC North. It's gotten way, way bigger than that.