Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Steelers have no questions about 2007

William Bryan, Special to the News

Published November 6, 2006 at midnight

Text size  

More Denver Broncos

More stories »

Editor's note: These would-be columnists were whittled down from 146 hopefuls in our Last Columnist Typing contest. One columnist is eliminated per week — a la Survivor — until one is left at the NFL season's end. The winner will cover an event alongside the pros.

More columns and details

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers managed to put their quarterback controversy to bed for the season. The final nail in that story's coffin was not Ben Roethlisberger's career-high 433 yards passing, but that the Steelers lost.

This season no longer exists in any meaningful way for the Steelers. Sunday's 31-20 loss to the Broncos all but assures them the captaincy of their own couches come January, but when next year rolls around, Big Ben will still be their quarterback.

While Jake Plummer played an effective and efficient game for the Broncos, and moreover won the game, he will unfairly not receive the same benefits as Roethlisberger. The Broncos are still playing for this year, so the fans, ownership, press and coaching staff all remain welcome to be dissatisfied with Plummer. When next year rolls around, Jake the Snake might be anywhere.

The future lies immediately behind Plummer on the depth chart. At this point, nobody really knows if Jay Cutler, Plummer's heir apparent, can play quarterback in the NFL. He exists in an undefined state of goodness, all outcomes completely possible but unknown, like Schroedinger's cat.

For those less philosophically inclined, Cutler is like an enormous Christmas present. He gives every appearance of being exciting, interesting, guaranteeing a brilliant and unforgettable holiday, when in fact he might just be a mismatched pair of used socks in a giant box. Nobody will blame the Broncos for opening their package when the time comes and unleashing their future, whatever that might be. And the worse the present quarterback is, the more attractive that box under the tree looks. Plummer is a lame duck, living not in the "if," but in the "when."

Roethlisberger, on the other hand, is already Pittsburgh's future. Behind him on the depth chart is Charlie Batch, a future quarterback of Christmas past. Batch began his career as a Detroit Lion eight years ago, the third quarterback taken in the 1998 draft. For the Steelers to insert Batch would be for them to invoke the past, and not just any past, but the Lions' past. Absolutely no NFL team covets the Lions' past.

Next week, Roethlisberger could turn in a four-interception game, and it would be nothing more than a coaching opportunity. In hockey, it is traditional to pull a goalie on the short end of a blowout. Football has no such convention. Last offseason, the doctors had to reconstruct Roethlisberger's face; next off-season, the coaches will have to reconstruct his confidence.

Winning has not removed Plummer from the hot seat and will not in the weeks to come. Any misplay will result in the whole city of Denver looking longingly at their beautifully wrapped backup quarterback, their future. The tough thing about the term "future," as any impatient 4-year-old can tell you, is that it might mean anything. The future could be tomorrow or it could be 2008, but until it arrives, nothing Plummer does will be good enough to make anyone forget Cutler is there.