Steelers Ben Roethlisberger set to play on Monday

Pittsburgh Steelers fans held their collective breath on Saturday when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was listed as questionable for Monday’s game against the Washington football team. Roethlisberger did not train on Friday or Saturday after playing against the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday. Due to not practicing, Roethlisberger had injury status although his absence from practice was listed as “unrelated to injury / knee”. Many wondered how doubtful it was that Roethlisberger would play at 5pm on Monday.

On Sunday, it looks like Steelers fans could now expire as Roethlisberger is set to play against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac:

Week 13 will not be the first time in 2020 that Roethlisberger will play in a match where his only participation that week was visiting. In week 10, Ben Roethlisberger was considered to be in close contact with Vance McDonald after testing positive for COVID-19 and was subsequently placed on the reserve / COVID-19 list. Roethlisberger came off the list in time to have a long visit on Saturday before the Steelers game Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. In the game, Roethlisberger threw for 333 yards and four touchdowns.

After playing a game without training, Roethlisberger joked when telling Coach Tomlin about his participation in training in the future because he did so well with so much rest. Roethlisberger was coming off the game against the Dallas Cowboys in which he injured both knees and missed a streak just before halftime. Coach Tomlin responded by saying it was a short conversation.

For week 13, the circumstances are completely different. Roethlisberger typically doesn’t take the field for the Steelers until Thursday after a Sunday game. With the Steelers playing on Wednesday, Sunday would be the expected return for Roethlisberger if he was functioning at normal rest. With another game looming six days later in Week 14, it looks like the Steelers have decided to keep the same schedule when it comes to Roethlisberger in order to give him as much rest as possible.

Of course, Roethlisberger still officially has questionable status for Monday, so anything is possible. But for now, it looks like the odds of Roethlisberger missing the game are extremely low in the eyes of the Steelers.

Stay tuned to BTSC for continued coverage as the Steelers take on the Washington football team at 5 p.m. on Monday.