Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers is coming near to the end of his playing career in the NFL, and he could potentially retire at the end of the 2017 season, but he isn't ready to allow other people to make that judgment for him.

Before the 2017 season began, Big Ben contemplated playing one another season in the NFL, as he teased with the possibility of retirement during the offseason. In the end, he decided to keep on playing, but things haven't gone the way he would have hoped this season.

While the Steelers have still been one of the best teams in the AFC, Roethlisberger has had more ups and downs in this season than ever before. The only thing that really has changed is that he is yet to pick up an injury that has caused him to miss games.

So far across 10 games played, the quarterback has completed 61.8% of his passes for 2,597 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, however, it is worth noting five of those interceptions came in one game. These numbers are down from what he had in 2016 despite the fact he only played 14 games that year.

He hasn't been as productive this year as he has been previously, which has lead to critics saying he's not invested in playing football anymore. The man himself disagrees though, and he has fired back at his critics.

Roethlisberger said on 93.7 The Fan Pittsburgh: "In a way it's like, 'Wait a second, you're going to take a shot at me and you don't know me?'

"I'm going to go out here and bust my butt every day and be limping with bruises and put my body and my family through this and not care? You're absolutely nuts."

He also said: "I've done this long enough, too, that I can let [criticism] roll off my back."

Big Ben and the Steelers currently sit in the number one seed in the AFC and they'll look to keep it that way and extend their winning streak of five games when they play against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.