Former Steelers coach reveals how Ben Roethlisberger went rogue on playcalls.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher had great success with Ben Roethlisberger as their quarterback, but the two occasionally had “selective hearing” issues, according to Cowher.

Cowher acknowledged to The Dan Patrick Show recently that Big Ben would occasionally go rogue and call his own plays. Cowher initially blamed it on headset issues, but eventually found Roethlisberger was just being himself.

“I kept thinking we were having communication issues, and he’d say, ‘Coach, there’s no problem, I can hear everything in this helmet,'” “I’d say, ok, let me look at the other option here, maybe it was selective hearing,” Cowher recounted.

Cowher stated that Roethlisberger was frequently given many alternatives for different plays, but that this was not always the case.

They were simply ignored. He’d go entirely off-script and against the gameplan, but the results were unassailable.

With Cowher as his head coach, Roethlisberger went 29-11 and defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. He was also selected AP Rookie of the Year in 2004.

Roethlisberger’s success continued following Cowher’s retirement, with a career regular-season record of 165-81-1 and a second Super Bowl victory in 2009. When he gets eligible in 2027, he will almost certainly be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame – selective hearing and all.