"Admit it, fretting 49ers fans, you've been playing the scenario in your head since last Thursday.

You know, the one in which Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, his left ankle bandaged as if he has just emerged from the Battle of Bull Run, somehow limps into Monday's game and heroically leads his team to dramatic and glorious victory.

Oh, how the Terrible Towels will wave. Oh, how the national media will swoon and say Big Ben is braver than Willis Reed, tougher than William Wallace and more selfless than Mother Teresa. Oh, how Roethlisberger – he loves this kind of drama – will bask in the attention.

And you? You'll stew and seethe and tell everyone at work Tuesday morning that you saw this coming.

The reality, worried 49ers fans, is that your team's most important game of the year – nay, the biggest in the last nine years – is setting up nicely in the 49ers' favor.

Roethlisberger's injury is no trivial matter.

His ankle bent like a cooked noodle against the Browns nine days ago, leaving him with a high-ankle sprain. When that occurs, the two lower leg bones – the tibia and fibula – actually bow outward, stretching or ripping the ligaments that connect them.

Roethlisberger, who the Steelers say was limited in practice Friday, will attempt to get in some reps today.

But even if he can, and the Pittsburgh coaches decide to start him Monday, Roethlisberger's movement will be severely restricted. It's Roethlisberger's ability to extend plays that makes him dangerous and difficult to defend."