NFL Playoff Predictions: Why Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers Miss the Super Bowl

There's no doubt that as long as Mike Tomlin, Dick LeBeau and Ben Roethlisberger reside in the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, they will be legit Super Bowl contenders every year.

And rightfully so, because they have been since Big Ben's rookie season in 2004.

Unfortunately, the 2011 season will fall short of a Super Bowl in January of 2012. Can't win it every year, and here's why this postseason.

Not Fully Healthy

If you haven't heard it yet, Pittsburgh has some injuries that will clearly affect them in the playoffs. In an article by the Sports Network at Fox News, the Steelers will be without two key players:

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"[Rashard] Mendenhall sustained an ACL injury on the final play in the first quarter of the 13-9 victory [over Cleveland in Week 17], and will miss the entire postseason. [Ryan] Clark will not play in Denver because he has a sickle cell trait, and high altitude can lead to health problems."

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Now, obviously Ryan Clark's blood reaction isn't technically an injury, however, it can be much worse than that if he were to play. As mentioned in the article:

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"Clark needed to have his spleen and gall bladder removed after playing in Denver in 2007, when he first learned of the trait."

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So, Pittsburgh will be without their leading rusher for the playoffs and leading tackler for the Denver game.

In addition to that, QB Ben Roethlisberger won't be 100 percent. According to Tom Kensler of the Denver Post, Big Ben's ankle appears to only be about 50 percent:

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Speaking Wednesday during a teleconference with Denver media, Roethlisberger said his ankle feels like a "5" on a scale of 1-10.

"I'd say '5.' It's not bad," he said when asked to rate how the ankle feels on a scale, with 10 being the best and 1 being unable to move.

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All that being said, with two of your best players out this week and one of the NFL's most clutch QBs not 100 percent, the Steelers health is a definite cause for concern.

Pass Protection

So we know that Ben Roethlisberger isn't going to be 100 percent, however, what about the performance of his offensive line.

This season the Steelers have allowed 42 sacks (40 of Big Ben) and in turn, Roethlisberger has thrown 14 interceptions. That's the third highest total of his career and he's also fumbles seven times (third most in career).

Much of that is because of a weak pass protection, period.

And with the Denver Broncos this week, you know Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil will be blitzing quite often if not on every down. They know Big Ben has limited mobility and with weak pass protection on top of it, that's a double-whammy for disaster.

Even if the Steelers oust the Broncos, they'll likely play at New England in the divisional and either Baltimore or Houston in the AFC title game. The Pats' finished with 40 sacks this season, the Ravens with 48 and the Texans accumulated 44.

So regardless of Ben's health and how explosive receivers Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown can be, every team who faces Pittsburgh is going to blitz relentlessly. Let's put it this way, if Cleveland can get decent pressure on Big Ben, any of the other AFC contenders can fluster Roethlisberger all day.

Rushing Offense

Other than the pass protection, Pittsburgh's other weakness on offense was their ground game. Now, they did manage to rank No. 14 in rushing by averaging almost 120 rush yards per game, however, that was still only average at best.

Team leader Rashard Mendenhall accounted for 928 of their 1,903 total rushing yards as well as scoring nine TDs.

Now with Mendenhall out though, they're barely above average ground game takes a steep nosedive. Isaac Redman is a solid No. 2 RB but the question is can he be a reliable No. 1?

Redman collected 479 rush yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry, however, he did fumble twice despite having only 110 carries.

Taking a look at the opposing defenses, the Broncos strength other than a pass rush is stopping the run and both the Ravens and Texans rank inside the top five against the run. Only New England seems like a team the Steelers could run against, the problem there is if that's enough to outscore the Patriots.

The odds are definitely against Pittsburgh because of health issues and a weak offensive line for pass protection. Include a weakened rushing attack that's gone from average to below average and the obstacles have only become greater for The Steel City.

Special Teams/Turnover Differential

Antonio Brown has been a great kick and punt returner all season for Pittsburgh. He's averaging 27.3 yards per kickoff and 10.8 yard per punt return.

He ranks in the top 10 for both, however, because of Pittsburgh's offensive woes at the moment the return game will only be a factor if Brown can extremely change the field position battle. On some level he'll help the defense, but the question is if The Steel Curtain can force turnovers as that's been tough all season.

Therefore, the opponent punts and the Steelers rank of No. 29 (tied with Philly and Washington) with a minus-13 turnover differential will cost them greatly.

Adding to it, kicker Shaun Suisham ranks No. 31 in connecting on just 74.2 percent of his field-goals and is 6-of-11 from the 40-to-49 yard range.

Being that Pittsburgh's offense will struggle to move the ball, when it does the Steelers' drives will stall, thus forcing Suisham into kicking multiple times from within that range. Any of the defenses will bend at some point the question is how much.

And unless Suisham becomes gold in the playoffs, don't count on Pittsburgh scoring a lot of points. With their dismal turnover differential and the defense only forcing punts, the Super Bowl is simply a long-shot.

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