Ben Roethlisberger spent a week politely answering questions about Andrew Luck, saying all the right things to anyone who asked about how impressed he was with the rising Indianapolis Colts star.
Then the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback delivered a virtuoso performance not even the precocious Luck could match.
Hot at the start and typically cool at the end, Roethlisberger masterfully guided the Steelers to a 51-34 victory Sunday that provided Pittsburgh with the jolt of legitimacy they’ve been searching for all season.
Roethlisberger set franchise records with 522 yards passing and six touchdowns while picking up his 100th victory in his 150th start.
And though he insists he wasn’t keeping track, there’s little chance Roethlisberger will forget one of the most prolific days in NFL history.
“We just felt like they couldn’t stop us because we were just clicking,” Roethlisberger said. “It was one of those nights that players talk about when things feel like they’re going right.”
The fact it went right against Luck – who has more than a little bit of Roethlisberger’s swashbuckling in him – was purely incidental.
Probably, though Steelers coach Mike Tomlin intentionally mentioned how great Luck was to his quarterback more than once.
“He won’t admit it but I’m sure (it bothered him),” Tomlin said. “You don’t ascend to the position that he is professionally without that competitive fire burning.”
It scorched the Colts (5-3), ending Indianapolis’ five-game winning streak in record-setting fashion.
Roethlisberger’s yardage total was the fourth highest in NFL history. He became the first player to go over 500 yards passing twice as the Steelers (5-3) won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Antonio Brown caught 10 passes for 133 yards and two scores. Heath Miller caught seven passes for 112 yards and the clinching TD with 5:14 remaining.
Luck passed for 400 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw two interceptions. He handed the Steelers a safety when he was called for intentional grounding in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter that handed momentum to the Steelers.
“Just a bonehead play by me,” Luck said.
The 907 combined yards passing were the second most ever, trailing only the 971 yards Detroit and Green Bay put up on January 1, 2012.
The Colts gave up 639 yards and never led.
Roethlisberger joined Tom Brady, Roger Staubach and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to win at least 100 games in their first 150 starts.
“Ben is Ben,” Brown said. “He never surprises me. It’s a great day at the office.”
Brady, meanwhile, threw five touchdown passes and Brandon LaFell had a career high 11 catches as the New England Patriots hammered the Chicago Bears.
Brady, who was 30-of-35 for 354 passing yards, tossed touchdown strikes on five of the Patriots’ first half dozen drives.
Rob Gronkowski, who had to leave the game in the third quarter because of dehydration, had 149 yards on nine receptions and caught three of Brady’s touchdown passes in the Patriots’ win.
LaFell set career-highs for receptions and 124 receiving yards and had a touchdown catch for New England, who improved to 6-2 on the season.
The Patriots won their fourth consecutive game and extended a home win streak to 13 games.
“It was good to see the whole team ready to go, playing with that kind of energy and execution,” said New England coach Bill Belichick. “It was a pretty good day for us out there today. We’ll have to turn this one around quickly and get ready for Denver next week.”
The Patriots scored three touchdowns in a 57-second span during a 31-point second quarter.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler completed 20-of-30 passes for 227 yards with three touchdowns. Cutler also had a pair of turnovers.
Matt Forte had 114 yards on 19 carries and caught a touchdown pass for the Bears, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Bears coach Marc Trestman said they will be doing a lot of soul searching.
“We lost today. We got beat by a really good football team,” said Trestman of the Bears, who dropped to 3-5.
“We have a whole half a season to play and we are going to go back tomorrow and start over and address every situation that we have and all aspects of our football team” he said.
Meanwhile Bears defensive end Lamarr Houston suffered an injury while celebrating a sack on Jimmy Garoppolo while his team was trailing by 35 points.
Houston leapt in the air after sacking the rookie backup quarterback for an 11-yard loss in the fourth quarter. After landing he grabbed at his right knee and went to the ground.
Chicago trailed 48-23 with a little over three minutes remaining at the time of the sack.
Brady and the Patriots must now get ready to face Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos at home next Sunday.
In Charlotte, quarterback Russell Wilson rallied his team to a come-from-behind road win, firing a touchdown pass to Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift defending Super Bowl champs Seattle to a 13-9 victory over Carolina.
The Detroit Lions came from behind to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-21 in London, England while New Orleans routed Green Bay 44-23.
Cleveland also beat Oakland 23-13, Kansas City hammered St Louis 34-7, Houston cruised by Tennessee 30-16, Cincinnati edged Baltimore 27-24, Miami handled Jacksonville 27-13, Buffalo pounded the Jets 43-23, Arizona overcame Philadelphia 24-20 and Minnesota topped Tampa Bay 19-13 in overtime.
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