Ben Roethlisberger retired from the NFL after spending 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Spending 18 years with one NFL team is quite the accomplishment, but for Roethlisberger, he came close to playing for another franchise during the prime of his career. Former San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary told The Athletic that he was called into a meeting with the team executives — then owner John York, CEO Jed York, director of player personnel Trent Baalke. They told him they had a deal with the Steelers to trade Roethlisberger.
The only thing the executives needed was Singletary to be on board. But the Pro Football Hall of Famer said no because he wanted Alex Smith a chance to prove himself and he didn’t want to be viewed as a hypocrite. “I had been telling the team I wanted a team of character,” he said, per CBS Sports. “I felt I had to be true to that. But if I could do it again, I’d do it differently.”
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It’s not been confirmed when the proposed trade was laid out, but the Steelers were looking to trade Roethlisberger after being accused of sexual assault in March. Singletary was hired as the 49ers head coach in 2009 and was coming off an 8-8 season. The 2010 season was the final one for Singletary after the team won just won five games. As for the Steelers, they went to the Super Bowl in 2010 but lost to the Green Bay Packers.
After 2010, the 49ers saw their share of success. They reached the Super Bowl in 2012 and 2019 with two different quarterbacks — Colin Kaepernick and Jimmy Garoppolo, respectively. Garoppolo has a chance to get the 49ers back to the Super Bowl as the team is playing in the NFC Championship game against Los Angles Rams this weekend.
The Steelers have not played in another Super Bowl since the 2010 season but remained a consistent franchise. In the last 11 seasons, the Steelers have reached the playoffs seven times, won the AFC North Championship four times and reached the AFC Championship in 2016. Roethlisberger remained on the team after the sexual assault allegations and finished his career with 64,085 yards and 418 touchdowns with a 93.5 passer rating. He led the Steelers to three Super Bowl appearances with two wins.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
