Sad Ben Roethlisberger Became NFL Fans’ New Favorite Meme After The Steelers Lost To The Browns

The Cleveland Browns (yes, those ones) won an NFL playoff game on Sunday night, beating the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in a stunning performance that saw Cleveland take a 28-0 lead in the first quarter and hold on for a 48-37 win to earn a date with Kansas City in the Divisional round.

It was an unbelievable performance, one that Browns fans will savor for ages. For the Steelers, it may mark the end of an era as Ben Roethlisberger, who has one more year left on his deal at a preposterous cap number, had one of the strangest stat lines in NFL history, throwing for 501 yards on 68 attempts with four touchdowns but also four interceptions that helped the Browns create the gap Pittsburgh could never recover from.

After the loss, as the Browns celebration began on the field, Roethlisberger sat, dejected on the bench as he contemplated the game that was and, possibly, the potential that this was the last game of his career.

That shot of Ben — with a later closeup of him tearing up — naturally became a meme as the internet ran with it immediately with glee in their hearts to see one of the NFL’s villains down bad. There was, of course, a “Hello, darkness, my old friend,” dub, which is a classic that never fails to hit its mark.

https://twitter.com/Benstonium/status/1348491316448153601

We also got the Big Ben x Curb Your Enthusiasm theme mashup that is likewise a fan favorite all the time.

We also had the excellent side by side of Ben staring off into the distance next to Pablo Escobar from Narcos.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, whose “they’re still the same Browns team” became a rallying cry for Cleveland, also caught some strays as the zoom in on sad Big Ben got dubbed over with “Corvette, Corvette,” which is Smith-Schuster’s go-to song for TikTok.

https://twitter.com/Kofie/status/1348491072410943490

Meanwhile in the Browns locker room, they likewise had some fun with JuJu, dancing to “Corvette, Corvette” as they celebrated their first playoff win since 1995.