He finished the regular season with the third-best passer rating behind Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer. Completing 62.7 percent of his passes for 2,385 yards, 17 TDs, and nine INTs.
As the wild-card team, the Steelers won three road games to reach the Super Bowl, beating the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, and Denver Broncos.
The Steelers went on to win Super Bowl XL, despite Roethlisberger's struggles. He completed only nine of 21 passes for 123 yds and two INTs. His passer rating of 22.6 is the lowest for a Super Bowl winning QB. But he also become the youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl.
During the offseason, Roethlisberger was almost killed in a motorcycle accident and then had to have an emergency appendectomy. Needless to say, he missed the first game of the 2006 season.
He struggled through the first several weeks of the season, until Week Six against the Kansas City Chiefs. In a 45-7 rout, Ben threw for 238 yards, two TDs, and zero INTs.
The following week, Roethlisberger was playing well until suffering a concussion. Upon his return, Ben threw four INTs in a game against the Oakland Raiders, his fifth loss of the season, two more than in his first two seasons as a starter combined.
2006 was the worst season of Roethlisberger's young career. Finishing the season with a passer rating of just 75.4, completing 59.7 percent of his passes for 3,513 yards, 18 TDs, and 23 INTs.
The Steelers opened the 2007 season against division rival Cleveland Browns. Roethlisberger bounced back from his poor 2006 season right away, routing the Browns 34-7. Ben had the first four-TD game of his career.
In Week Nine, he tied the franchise record of five TDs in a game, held by Terry Bradshaw, against the Baltimore Ravens in a 38-7 victory.
In Week 12, in horrible weather, Roethlisberger completed 85.7 percent of his passes and beat the Miami Dolphins 3-0.
During the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ben threw his 29th TD of the season, breaking Terry Bradshaw's franchise record.
He became the first quarterback to have two perfect passer rating games (158.3) in a single season.
The Steelers made the playoffs but lost in the first round to the Jaguars. Capping off a great comeback season Ben was named to his first Pro Bowl. His final stats for the season were a 65.3 percent completion rate, for 3,154 yards, 32 TDs, 11 INTs, and a passer rating of 104.1.
So it seems that Joe Theismann is correct. At least based on this division. Boller should never have started his rookie year, Palmer and Anderson didn't and have become solid quarterbacks. Roethlisberger started his rookie year, due to injuries, and he is the exception in this group.
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