Steelers Legend Ben Roethlisberger Grateful For His Motorcycle Accident Helping Him 'Pump The Brakes'

Pittsburgh Steelers legendary quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger is widely considered the best quarterback in team history, although there are some who argue a case for Terry Bradshaw. Roethlisberger saw a lot of success early on in his NFL career, as he won Super Bowl XL in his second season, at the time being the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Despite his early success, Roethlisberger also ran into some trouble early on in his career, including a horrific motorcycle accident in the offseason after winning his first championship. 

Steelers Great Ben Roethlisberger Discusses Recovering From His Motorcycle Accident

Roethlisberger was on top of the world following the 2005 NFL season, but was brought back to reality when he suffered serious injuries from his accident just four months after winning Super Bowl XL. A driver failed to yield while making a left turn, and Roethlisberger collided with the car and flew into the windshield of the vehicle. He suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, and a serious laceration on the back his head, amongst many other smaller injuries. Roethlisberger discussed his recovery with his former backup quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski, on his podcast Alpha 5 Method With Bruce Gradkowski.

"I was so out of it, I didn't know what in the world happened. I remember thinking after I came out of it, I've got some adversity, this is going to be an uphill battle. I never once thought that I was done playing. I just knew it was going to be a battle to fight to get back. I'm a competitor, man. I wasn't going to let that slow me down." 

Roethlisberger got beat up quite a bit on the field during his NFL career. He played through many injuries and had a ton of battles, especially in the AFC North. However, nothing compares to breaking both your lower and upper jaw. Roethlisberger faced some controversy for the accident because he was not wearing a helmet on his motorcycle and was also riding with a expired temporary permit.

With all bad things comes a silver lining. After Roethlisberger was able to get past the initial heartbreak of the accident, and began to make his way back to football and full health, he realized he needed to slow things down a bit. Roethlisberger wasn't even 25 yet and he had already had so much success in the NFL, which could be hard to handle for a young player. Roethlisberger went on to talk about how the accident gave him perspective, and how it taught him to slow things down.

"I think sometimes we need slowed down from ourselves. I think God does that to us when we get kind of caught up with things. That was the first time that God really said, 'Hey listen, you need to slow it down a little bit, I'm still in control, not you.' It's easy to have early success and put yourself in a situation where I'm going to control my own life, rather than just surrendering it over. You've got to really take time and say, 'Listen, pump the brakes a little bit,' and put priorities where they are supposed to be."

Although the accident was horrific, Roethlisberger was able to bounce back and get his career and life back on track. He made a full recovery and wound up starting all three of the Steelers' preseason games. He missed the season opener, but that was due to needing to have an emergency appendectomy, which was unrelated to the accident.

The Steelers had a bit of a Super Bowl slump in the 2006 season, as they went 8-8 and failed to make the playoffs. They finally got back to the top of the mountain in 2008 when they won Super Bowl XLIII over the Arizona Cardinals. Roethlisberger led one of the most iconic scoring drives at the end of the fourth quarter, which ended with Santonio Holmes catching the game-winning touchdown in the corner of the end zone. 

The way Roethlisberger talks about his motorcycle accident, it seems he learned important life lessons from the tragedy. He would go on to play for 18 seasons total in Pittsburgh, win two Super Bowls, and is likely to become a first ballot Hall Of Famer.