Ben Roethlisberger almost played for another team in 2022

Ben Roethlisberger played 18 seasons for the Steelers, which is the longest for a quarterback with one team in his career. However, he almost lost the record in 2022.

Roethlisberger revealed that towards the end of the 2022 season, the 49ers reached out to him following multiple injuries to their quarterback room. San Francisco was a Super Bowl contender, but he chose to stay retired.

“Last year there was some truths to the Niners thing,” Roethlisberger said on 105.9 the X. “I don’t want to sit here and say I was going or anything like that; they called to gauge my interest. I had conversations with my agent, with my wife, with my family, prayed a lot about it.”

It was clear that Roethlisberger’s time in Pittsburgh was up following the 2021 season, but he still had a chance to continue playing if he wanted to. There was some intrigue, but he ended up turning down San Francisco’s offer for one main reason.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say there wasn’t a small part of me that wasn’t intrigued that I could still do it, prove to people I could still play,” Roethlisberger added. “But at the end of the day, I just can’t see myself in anything other than black and gold. Even though they had a great chance, I think, to win a Super Bowl, it would have been hard for me to try and win a Super Bowl anywhere else but here.”

The 49ers were desperate after quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo were sidelined for the remainder of the season, leaving Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy, left to start. However, things ended up working out as Purdy looked impressive down the stretch and Roethlisberger got to continue enjoying retired life.