In order to confirm the early failure cause of a four-row cylindrical roller bearing at the backup roll position of a six-high cold sheet mill, its lubrication behavior under harsh operating conditions is investigated. Through establishing and solving the Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication (EHL) model of the roller-inner raceway contact region, the minimum oil film thickness and the real lubrication performance are achieved. The results show the bearing failures come from the poor oil film thickness in the case of high temperature and low rotational speed, which leads to contact wear. So various approaches to improve bearing life via improving lubrication are compared. It has been proved decreasing surface roughness of both contact bodies is an effective way.