TAMPA, Fla. — For the last two weeks,

I was bombarded with the same question from other writers, talk radio hosts and casual football fans: Is Kurt Warner a Hall of Famer?

Turns out for two weeks we were talking about the wrong quarterback in the Super Bowl. With two Lombardi Trophies, Ben Roethlisberger has placed himself in the queue for Canton consideration when he finally walks away from the game.

But that won't be any time soon.

Roethlisberger turns 27 in March. Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw both won their second Super Bowls at 27. Bob Griese and Joe Montana did it at 28, Bart Starr at 34, Roger Staubach at 35, Jim Plunkett at 36 and John Elway at 38.

Like Tom Brady, Roethlisberger already has two at age 26.

I've been reluctant to label Roethlisberger a franchise quarterback in recent years. He won a Super Bowl, but so did Phil Simms, Jim McMahon, Mark Rypien, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson. A quarterback doesn't need to be great to win a Super Bowl. He can be merely good.

Roethlisberger isn't a picture-perfect pocket passer like Aikman, Brady or even Warner. Statistically, he can be a nightmare.

Roethlisberger takes too many sacks, throws too many interceptions and looks awkward stumbling out of the pocket in the face of a pass rush. He's the only active NFL quarterback with three consecutive 40-sack seasons, and he barely threw more touchdowns (17) than interceptions (15) last season.

But quarterbacks and head coaches are the only two men in football who are judged by one statistic — wins.

Roethlisberger has won 51 of his 71 career starts, a 71.8 percent clip. If you count the playoffs, he has won 59 of 81 starts, a 72.8 percent clip. Brady is the only active quarterback with a better winning percentage.

That doesn't automatically qualify Roethlisberger as a franchise quarterback. It's how he wins — in particular, how he won his last Super Bowl — that has earned my respect.

Roethlisberger was faced with a Joe Montana moment Sunday night. The Arizona Cardinals dramatically seized the momentum with an electrifying 64-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Larry Fitzgerald.

Steeler Nation sat in stunned silence as Cardinal Nation came to life in the stands. Trailing 23-20, Roethlisberger trotted onto the field with the ball at his 22 and 2:30 remaining. On the first snap, Steelers guard Chris Kemoeatu was penalized for holding.

Now the Steelers sat 88 yards away with 2:24 left. The Arizona pass rush would be fierce and the pass coverage physical. Daylight would be squeezed out of the passing lanes.

But Roethlisberger threw only two incompletions in his next seven passes — Arizona's Aaron Francisco batted away a deep sideline toss at the last second from Nate Washington on the second play, and a potential touchdown pass sailed through the hands of Santonio Holmes on a fade route in the end zone on the seventh play.

Roethlisberger's other five passes covered 84 yards, including strikes of 14, 13, 40 and 6 yards to Holmes. The 6-yarder was the kind of pass that makes a career — the pass that Joe Montana threw to John Taylor in the 1989 Super Bowl and the one Eli Manning threw to Plaxico Burress in the 2008 Super Bowl.

With Holmes at the right edge of the end zone, Roethlisberger zipped a spiral over the heads of three Cardinals who were squeezing Holmes at the sideline.

If Roethlisberger's throw was two inches longer, Holmes wouldn't have kept his toes in bounds. If he's two inches shorter, one of the Cardinals gets a hand on it.

It was a perfect pass.

Greatness is not judged by how a quarterback performs in September, October, November or December. It's how he performs in January and February. The great ones make the pass that Roethlisberger made to win Super Bowls.

Roethlisberger is a great one. He's officially a franchise quarterback now.