Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should not have been playing against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. His decision to play clearly cost his team a crucial game.

Anyone who watched five minutes of the game could see that he was severely hampered by an ankle injury. The usually elusive and efficient Roethlisberger was sacked three times, threw three interceptions and lost one fumble. He was unable to move in the pocket or plant his foot to get any power on his throws. There were a few times it even looked like he was not going to get back up again.

Roethlisberger has a history of making sure that the media and everyone knows he is hurt. It seems to be part of his persona as "Big Ben." He likes to be perceived as the tough quarterback that can play through anything.

On Monday night, he was the selfish quarterback that wanted to prove his toughness and play through an injury that would have sidelined anybody else. Instead, he gave his team zero chance to win and knocked them out of the top seed in the AFC.

Steelers' fans should be irate over what went down Monday night. Even after it was clear Roethlisberger was having a terrible night, head coach Mike Tomlin refused to take him out of the game, maybe because he didn't want to hurt the feelings of his star quarterback.

But, come on man – He is a head coach in the NFL! His job is to give his team the best chance at winning – without worrying about whose feelings get hurt. Pittsburgh's loss lies clearly on the shoulders of both Tomlin and Roethlisberger.

Now, most probably, Steelers' fans would still have preferred a banged up Roethlisberger to a completely healthy Charlie Batch or Dennis Dixon. Okay, how'd that work out for you in the game? Not only did Pittsburgh lose the No. 1 seed, they are now at risk of being without Roethlisberger for longer than expected.

"Big Ben" was the opposite of a team leader in Monday night's game – Nice job.