The last time Kurt Warner played in front of the home crowd in Arizona as the quarterback of the Cardinals, he was 29 for 33 with 379 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, a near-perfect passer rating and a playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers. If that's not an incredible finale for home fans to witness the final days of a Hall of Fame career, I'm not sure what is.
For that reason, Warner is a pretty good guy to consult when asking what Ben Roethlisberger must be thinking, how he must be feeling, what thoughts are going through the 39-year-old's head, as he prepares to take the field for what may be the last time at Heinz Field. Because it was due to those thoughts, in large part, that Warner was able to have so much success when saying goodbye to his loyal home crowd for the final hurrah.
Warner joined "The PM Team w/ Poni & Mueller" ahead of the Steelers' Monday night clash with the Browns in Pittsburgh.
"Obviously, you're thinking about the game and you're thinking about winning the game and moving forward and advancing to the playoffs," Warner said, recalling his own state of mind when he was in Roethlisberger's shoes. "But another part of me was like, this is the last game I'm going to play in front of my fans, in front of this stadium, and I just want to leave them with an impression of, you know, my way of saying thank you for the journey that we've taken together.
"So I think that's probably what Ben is thinking about and, knowing that they're not going to make the playoffs this year, you want your fans to remember you a certain way. And not that one game is going to sway that either way, but that game I played against Green Bay, you could argue, was the greatest game I've played in my career. And I was proud of that, that I got a chance to send off the fans and say thank you to them with a performance like that and be able to win the game late... I believe that Ben probably has got some of those emotions going as well, that I want to just leave them with one last memorable performance to put a stamp on this unbelievable journey that I've had with this whole Pittsburgh community."
The Steelers technically are not out of the playoff race yet, but Warner's overall point is the more important takeaway here. A win would be much more significant than however it impacts the 2021-22 Steelers. A win, especially one over the Cleveland Browns — against whom Roethlisberger has a 25-2-1 regular season record — would just be the ultimate way to honor all the greatness that Big Ben his displayed over the years and show the supportive fan base how appreciative he is of their undying passion. A win, should that be the outcome in what could be a tight divisional contest, would be the perfect swan song for a true franchise legend.
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