The détente reached this month between the Steelers’ two greatest quarterbacks after their relationship lingered in limbo for so many years came about because Terry Bradshaw wanted to have a better relationship with Ben Roethlisberger.

The feeling, it turns out, is mutual.

The two had not spoken in nearly 10 years after what Bradshaw called an uncomfortable interview before Super Bowl 45 in Dallas. The old quarterback took some shots at Roethlisberger early in his career for some off-field behavior. It wasn’t the start of a warm relationship. Roethlisberger never talked poorly about Bradshaw but the longtime Fox NFL studio analyst believed there was friction because of those things he said years ago.

But the week before the Steelers-Eagles Fox broadcast on Oct. 11, Roethlisberger agreed to a Zoom interview with Bradshaw that ran before the game. It went well.

“I was uncomfortable in doing it because of basically the chilliness, the uncomfortable vibes you get when we’re together,’’ Bradshaw said, even though the two last talked in Dallas nearly 10 years ago. “He defused all that. To his credit he was fabulous, he was laughing, cutting up. I was like, ‘Wow, I am so glad that this is like this.’

“We had fun. We could have talked — or I could have talked — for another hour.”

As anyone who has ever been around Bradshaw or seen him on TV — including his new “Bradshaw Bunch” reality show on E! with his daughters — the 72-year-old four-time Super Bowl winner loves to talk. And talk. He said he would enjoy spending time with Roethlisberger and his wife, Ashley, in Pittsburgh.

“What’s Ashley having for dinner?” he said he’d ask. “I’m going to come by and meet the kids and the wife and get to know you better. It’s a whole new person. This is the kind of guy I guess I can say I always wanted him to be. To his credit, he made it a fun interview. And I believed him.”

Roethlisberger enjoyed their time talking as well as the interview that aired on Fox.

“I thought it went well,” the Steelers quarterback said Wednesday. “I thought it was nice. I loved the opportunity to speak to him. I kind of know a little bit of his history here in Pittsburgh in general. I know it hasn’t always been the warmest. I don’t know why.”

After Bradshaw’s career ended in 1984, his relationship with the Steelers has been complicated. While he has attended some alumni events, his absence from the funerals of Art Rooney Sr., Chuck Noll and Dan Rooney still draws criticism. Roethlisberger said he doesn’t know all the “ins and outs” of Bradshaw’s history with the Steelers and said he appreciated the opportunity to reconnect.

“I always look up to him as the greatest quarterback in Steelers history,” Roethlisberger said. “I mean four Super Bowl wins, that’s what I strive for every year to try to catch him in that category. It’s not like we never spoke before, but this one just felt different and it was really nice.”

Both Roethlisberger and Bradshaw seemed genuine in that interview and came off that way in their phone conversations with The Athletic.

“It’s a shame we haven’t had any kind of relationship, or gotten along or whatever,” Bradshaw said. “I know what the problem has been, I just wished it had never happened. Ben didn’t know me, I didn’t know him. It’s made for a strange, I want to say relationship, but we don’t have one.”

Bradshaw may have gotten the wrong vibe because Roethlisberger said he never felt that way.

“I’ve always respected Terry,’’ Roethlisberger said. “I never had an issue with Terry. I’m glad this interview happened the way it did. I’m hoping that it turned a page for him and both of us in a relationship way.”

Bradshaw blamed himself and tried to explain why the two never had a strong relationship. He always has been a fan of Roethlisberger’s play on the field — “I think he’s been that phenomenal as a player” — but sharply criticized Roethlisberger for riding his motorcycle before his 2006 accident and after two sexual assault allegations that resulted in a four-game suspension in 2010.

“For years you acted recklessly,” Bradshaw said on a 2010 Fox broadcast. “You hung out in college bars, you disrespected women. The Steelers got rid of Super Bowl hero Santonio Holmes for failing a substance abuse test, but they should have dumped you, because what you did, in my eyes, was a lot worse.”

That was just a few months before the pair sat down for that uncomfortable Super Bowl interview in Dallas.

“I have a big personality,” Bradshaw said. “I’ll do whatever. I’m a rancher in Louisiana, and I work for Fox. I’m paid for opinions and experience. I have fun with everybody. I said, ‘Park the motorbike, park the motorbike.’ That didn’t set well. And then the suspension thing, the problems off the field. It’s history. He’s married now, he has a great wife, he has great children. I heard he had changed …

“This is something we need to fix, I need to fix, if I can. I’m trying, I’m trying. I want to badly.”

Bradshaw said he hopes to have with Roethlisberger the type of relationship he has Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady (“We hug when we see each other. … That’s the way it should be between Ben and me.”)

But why now, and why does it mean so much for Bradshaw to have a relationship with a quarterback 34 years his junior?

“First of all, believe it or not, I love Pittsburgh,” Bradshaw said. “It’s my family. And it was hard knocks for me as you well know. And I too have grown. It’s important that the city have no ill feelings toward me, or the Steelers. especially Ben. It’s important to me that everyone in that city know that Ben and I are friends. I think it would make everybody happy to know that. I know the Steelers are happy for that. It’s the way it should be. I want to walk into that Steelers locker room and have Ben come over and we embrace. I’m a 72-year-old Steelers lover, you know? I was part of the bunch that got this thing going back in the ’70s and I’m proud of it. It’s just important to me and it’s important they know that I’m reaching out.”

Roethlisberger said he’d welcome that kind of relationship with Bradshaw.

“It would be awesome,” he said. “I’m not sure how often he comes to Pittsburgh but if he came back I would love to embrace him. In a normal situation outside of this COVID, if he came back and got recognized by the fans, I would love to be out there and give him a hug, to be part of that. If he wants to have a friendship and text every so often – I text with Coach (Bill) Cowher – I’m all for that.”

Bradshaw, whose own career was cut short by an elbow injury at age 35, is in awe of Roethlisberger’s recovery from elbow surgery. In their recent Zoom interview, they talked about what Roethlisberger’s recovery was like and how he managed to transition from practices to games. Bradshaw said he looks strong enough to play for another three years, until Roethlisberger is 41.

He’s always watched from afar as a fan. Now he hopes he can watch as a friend, too.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ve got on this earth,” Bradshaw said, “and I don’t want to go to my grave with, ‘Why didn’t he love Pittsburgh?’ and ‘Why did he not go to this funeral or that funeral?’ and so on and so forth. It’s just gawlee, bury this negative stuff and let’s live on the half-full glass and not half-empty.”

(Top photo of Ben Roethlisberger: Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images)