Tim Benz: Photo of dejected Ben Roethlisberger conjures bad Pittsburgh sports memory

I saw that photo of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger sitting alone on the bench at the end of the team’s 48-37 playoff loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Dejected. Almost slouching into his pads. Staring off into the void of defeat and a murky future.

It was about 10 minutes after Sunday night’s 48-37 loss to the Browns ended before Ben Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey made their way to the #Steelers’ locker room. https://t.co/7Rp2uvUwH2

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) January 11, 2021

It was eerily reminiscent of another infamous Pittsburgh sports photo. One of former Pirates center fielder Andy Van Slyke slumped into the outfield grass of Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium in 1992. Gazing in disbelief as to what happened in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the NLCS.

One could look at that shot of Van Slyke and see how he was failing to come to grips with Sid Bream sliding across home plate to win the game, ending the Pirates’ season. At the same time, as Van Slyke’s expression indicated, he was acutely aware that the Pirates’ three-year run of National League East division titles had come up short of the World Series — and that the franchise was about to be picked apart in free agency and wouldn’t return to competitiveness for quite some time.

Bobby Bonilla had already left. Barry Bonds was about to do the same. Doug Drabek as well. Van Slyke was going to be stranded in Pittsburgh for what would be the first two of 20 consecutive losing seasons, beginning in 1993, until he signed as a free agent in Baltimore before the 1995 season.

As of now, Roethlisberger has only one year left on his contract in Pittsburgh — to the tune of a $41 million salary-cap hit if he stays, roughly $22 million if he retires or is released.

Don’t think those circumstances just dawned on Roethlisberger as the clock hit 0:00 to end that embarrassing wild-card round defeat, with Big Ben tossing four interceptions along the way.

He was aware, as we all were going into that game. As soon as the Steelers were eliminated in this year’s playoffs, that was probably going to close the window on Super Bowl hopes in the Roethlisberger era.

His fading play at the end of this past regular season indicated that. So does the team’s free agency situation combined with a potential reduced NFL salary cap in the range of $175 million.

The read on Roethlisberger’s face was obvious: “I’m not who I once was, and if I do come back … what am I coming back to?”

Consider — as Roethlisberger clearly has to — that the Steelers will likely start 2021 without top wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back James Conner. They are about to become free agents. So are three of his linemen in Alejandro Villanueva, Zach Banner and Matt Feiler.

Outside linebacker Bud Dupree, nose tackle Tyson Alualu and defensive backs Mike Hilton and Cam Sutton may leave for other teams, too. Center Maurkice Pouncey may be considering retirement.

Not to mention that Roethlisberger’s longtime preferred offensive coordinator, Randy Fichtner, isn’t coming back. Furthermore, Fichtner may be replaced by quarterbacks coach Matt Canada. While Roethlisberger didn’t appear to have an undercurrent of static with Canada as he seemed to have with former coordinator Todd Haley, it didn’t appear as if Roethlisberger was entirely on board with Canada’s pre-snap, motion-based offensive philosophies.

Does Roethlisberger really want to come back to that kind of situation to play out his last year? Conversely, are Steelers fans ready to see him leave and begin the next era of quarterback questions like those that loomed over this franchise for 20 years between Terry Bradshaw’s retirement in 1983 and the drafting of Roethlisberger in 2004?

If one picture actually tells a thousand words, here a few that were obvious from that snapshot of Van Slyke: Despair. Hopelessness. Reality. Ineptitude. Failure. Losing.

The small-market Pirates were never going to be able to keep up with the big city teams in the wild, wild west of MLB free agent spending we witnessed in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The Steelers situation isn’t as bleak. Better ownership and a better brand and a league-wide salary cap will see to that.

But whatever we all saw through Roethlisberger’s eyes that night at Heinz Field looked a lot like the view of Three Rivers Stadium in the 1980s and very early ‘90s. Some words leap to mind from that view, too.

Confusion. Lackluster play. Meandering rosters. Nondescript seasons with minimal postseason appearances and success.

Or — more simply put — the end.

Now it’s up to Roethlisberger and the Steelers to decide whether they want to delay the formal acknowledgment of that fate for another year. And, if so, how they are going to do it.

That picture is not close to being in focus.