Ben Roethlisberger Must Return to Top Form Immediately for Pittsburgh Steelers

It wasn't supposed to go like that.

Ben Roethlisberger's return to the Pittsburgh Steelers' starting lineup on Sunday was supposed to ignite the offense. The Steelers were supposed to meet the Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh and match one of the best offenses in the NFL with their own dynamism and explosiveness.

Instead, they scored just 10 points in a six-point loss while Roethlisberger struggled a huge amount after the initial stages of the game. The veteran quarterback finished the game with 262 yards on 45 pass attempts with just one touchdown and three interceptions.

With the loss, the Bengals move to 7-0, and the Steelers fall to 4-4. While the Steelers are still the only playoff contender left behind the Bengals in the AFC North, they are no longer in position to challenge for the division.

Instead, Pittsburgh will need to fend off other AFC teams for a wild-card spot.

The Steelers are theoretically in a good position to earn a wild-card spot, but injuries threaten their season. Roethlisberger has returned, but the team's offensive line looks to be in trouble now that it has added starting left tackle Kelvin Beachum to starting center Maurkice Pouncey on injured reserve.

Surviving without those linemen wasn't as big of a challenge for the Steelers as it would be for most teams because of their quality at the skill positions. However, losing Le'Veon Bell has changed that.

Reports now suggest Bell's knee injury is more serious than initially thought, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. A torn MCL generally isn't as significant as a torn ACL, but it's still a severe injury, and the running back is now likely to miss the rest of the season.

Without Bell, the Steelers will still be able to run the ball because DeAngelo Williams has already proved his ability as a runner this season. What they lose in swapping out Bell for Williams is his versatility as a receiver and his ability to be creative behind less impactful blocking.

Losing those elements on offense will shift the focus onto Roethlisberger's ability to carry the offense by elevating his offensive line and finding his extremely talented receivers. He can't afford to play like he did against the Bengals again this season.

Against the Bengals, he made too many bad decisions with the ball.

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Roethlisberger threw his first interception early in the third quarter. He made his mistake before the center even snapped the ball. The signal-caller pointed to Reggie Nelson and the right outside linebacker while calling out protections on the right side of the defense.

After doing that, he kept his eyes to the other side of the field before calling for the ball. Roethlisberger saw the other safety rotate down toward the line of scrimmage but never saw Nelson rotating deep.

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On the opposite side of the field to where Nelson initially lined up, Antonio Brown is running a double-move route. Roethlisberger stares Brown down and uses a pump fake before heaving the ball downfield. He never expected Nelson to be there.

Big Ben predetermined his throw at the snap and didn't account for the adjustment the defense had made.

The Bengals had baited Roethlisberger into this throw by showing him what he wanted to see on one side of the field before deceiving him after the snap. This isn't something that happens to the veteran quarterback very often.

Over the course of his career, Roethlisberger has proved to be a quarterback who understands how to properly balance risk-reward plays. Even when he throws a lot of interceptions—something he has rarely done over the second half of his career—he has rarely thrown this kind of interception.

It's what would be classified as a rookie error if Roethlisberger were much younger than he is now. Amazingly, it wasn't the only rookie error the 33-year-old made in this game.

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Throughout his career, Roethlisberger has been celebrated for his ability to make plays outside of the pocket. His size (6'5", 240 lbs) and athleticism allow him to brush off potential sacks and make difficult throws from either flat. Once again, his awareness of the defense allowed him to do this without being overly reckless with the ball.

In the fourth quarter, with a four-point lead and just six minutes left in the game on 2nd-and-6, Roethlisberger tried to make one of these plays.

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Once Roethlisberger escaped to the left sideline, he kept his eyes looking toward the middle of the field. The Steelers had only one receiver with three tight ends and a running back on the field, so his options were extremely limited at this point.

Considering the game situation, there was no reason for Roethlisberger to throw the ball.

There is never a reason for him to throw the ball blind, which is what he did on this play. Having focused on the middle of the field initially, the quarterback then turned toward the near sideline and threw the ball downfield.

His pass was undercut by a Bengals safety, so his intended target never had an opportunity to make a play on the ball. The Steelers didn't desperately need to make a play in this situation. Even throwing the ball away wouldn't have hurt their chances of winning the game too much because they still had a third down to try to convert.

When Todd Haley took over the Steelers' offensive coordinator role, these types of plays became less regular for Roethlisberger. He spent more time in the pocket, making better decisions and throwing the ball to safer routes on time.

At this stage of his career, that is where Roethlisberger should stay, especially so when dealing with a knee injury.

His final interception of the game came from the pocket with less than three minutes to go. He overthrew Antonio Brown on a post route under pressure from between the tackles. It was a difficult throw and one he had to attempt, but it's the kind of throw the Steelers will look to Roethlisberger to make moving forward.

The quarterback himself offered up no excuses after the game, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com.

"I let this team down and I let the fans down," Roethlisberger said. "This one is on me and I'm taking the blame and letting everyone know I have to play better."

Roethlisberger's first opportunity to redeem himself will come against an unlikely wild-card contender, the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders offense has been outstanding this season, but Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense should feel confident going against the team's defense next Sunday.

Games against the Raiders and a disappointing Cleveland Browns defense precede a matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. This three-game stretch will likely determine if the Steelers can make the playoffs this year.

They'll need to win at least two of those games, and they'll need Roethlisberger at his best to do that.