The Pittsburgh Steelers say they will make a decision later in the week on whether or not to play quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Saturday against the lowly St. Louis Rams.

But Jason LaCanfora of NFL.com says the Steelers are expected to sit Roethlisberger out this week against the Rams and perhaps in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns as well.

Roethlisberger originally suffered the injury Dec. 8 against the Browns, but finished that contest as the Steelers won. However, Roethlisberger was limited in practice, even 11 days between games, and turned the football over four times in Monday night's loss at San Francisco.

The Steelers gambled and lost against the 49ers that Roethlisberger could produce a victory that would have given Pittsburgh the upper hand in the AFC North race against Baltimore and could have given them the inside track at a first-round bye.

Instead, the Steelers may be poised to start Charlie Batch, now that they could enter the playoffs as a wild-card team.

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Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com