Pittsburgh Steelers Are Insane for Plan to Start Ben Roethlisberger in Week 17

The Pittsburgh Steelers are not thinking about starting Ben Roethlisberger in the team's season finale against the Cleveland Browns, are they? 

Insanity. 

To be fair, the Steelers are still alive for both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the AFC playoffs, but they need a great deal of help. 

In order to capture the AFC North, they'll need to beat the Browns and have the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Cincinnati Bengals. 

They can sneak into the conference's top spot with a win, a Ravens loss and a Buffalo Bills victory over the New England Patriots.

At this juncture, that all shouldn't matter. 

What's more important, having a healthy Big Ben for the postseason or the possibility of a home game? While that initially seems to be quite the conundrum, having their quarterback fully rested is far more imperative for the Steelers. 

A playoff game at Heinz Field wouldn't be a bad thing, obviously, but how horrible would it be to play on the road?

It's safe to say the beatdown they took in Baltimore in the season opener was an aberration—a 35-7 score that likely wouldn't be such a one-sided affair again. 

They may also be worried about playing the Patriots in New England. Pittsburgh already beat the Pats, although the game was in the Steel City. 

All the different scenarios cannot be on the Steelers minds. 

If Roethlisberger is re-injured, they won't matter. 

No way the Steelers can go into a postseason game with confidence if Charlie Batch is forced to go under center. But what's to say Pittsburgh can't beat the Browns with their backup signal-caller? 

They most certainly can do it. 

They most certainly can't make another Super Bowl run without Big Ben, so playing him in the final regular season game is a risk they simply cannot take.