A right shoulder injury for Ben Roethlisberger surfaced in Friday's injury report. The Steelers quarterback was already limited in practice this week by nagging hip and pectoral injuries. None of it will ultimately sideline him for Monday Night Football against the Bears.
"Ben’s playing," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Saturday. "It's just things to manage. He's been doing this a long time. I've been doing it a along time with him. We generally do a good job of communicating and managing such things. You should anticipate him playing."
The real concern is whether Roethlisberger's latest ailment will impede the progress he's made in recent weeks. After getting off to an uncharacteristically slow start to the season, Big Ben has experienced an uptick in production over the past three weeks, all Pittsburgh wins. He's thrown four touchdowns without an interception during this span while taking just four sacks and averaging 7.5 yards an attempt.
Those numbers are modest in comparison to his peak performance, but they've been enough to buttress a stifling defense en route to three straight, one-possession victories. One of that unit's key contributors, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, was given Saturday off. Tomlin assured he too will play Monday.