PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger isn't on social media, but he knows what the chatter outside the Steelers organization sounds like right now.
The criticisms are mounting after a third straight loss where Roethlisberger played one of the worst halves of his professional football career.
The noise, though, is warranted, the quarterback said Wednesday.
"I don't blame them," he said. "When you play like poo, you should get talked about like that. I need to play better. If I'm not giving them a reason to talk good, then I'm giving them a reason to talk bad. That's all on me. I need to play better."
Roethlisberger completed 7 of 16 attempts for 19 yards and an interception in the first half of the improbable loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. He finished with 170 yards on 20 of 38 attempts with a touchdown and the interception, but it still wasn't good enough to dig out of a 17-point first-half deficit -- one that was largely a product of Roethlisberger's turnovers and mental lapses. The numbers are problematic, but to Roethlisberger, the biggest indication of playing poorly is his team not winning.
"Truthfully, at the end of the day, that's my determining factor if I play well or not, is are we winning the football game?" he said. "That's all that matters to me. Am I not completing enough passes, am I getting us in the right play call? There's a myriad of issues, in my opinion, that aren't helping us win the game and it can be something different all the time.
"I just haven't played well enough to help us win a football game, because at the end of the day, that's all that really matters."
Roethlisberger also said Wednesday that he called a players-only meeting for the offense, but it wasn't because the team was on a three-game losing streak.
Instead, he wanted to get his unit -- one with many young players who haven't played in an NFL postseason -- focused ahead of the playoffs.
"Just wanted guys to understand and reiterate how important this time of year is and the playoffs aren't guaranteed to anybody," he said. "It wasn't a players-only panic meeting. Make sure people keep writing that. This was a meeting that we felt was necessary moving forward going into the postseason."
Though things haven't been trending in the right direction for the Steelers, the team did get some good news Wednesday as veteran inside linebacker Vince Williams was activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list.
The importance of Williams' return ahead of Sunday's matchup against the Indianapolis Colts can't be understated. The position's depth has been thin since Devin Bush's ACL injury earlier in the season. In Williams' absence, the team had turned to a combination of safety-turned-inside linebacker Marcus Allen, Avery Williamson and Ulysees Gilbert.
Williams' return gives the position a much-needed boost in veteran leadership and experience against a ground attack that features surging Colts rookie Jonathan Taylor.