The Pittsburgh Steelers might have recently signed a four-time MVP and Super Bowl champion to be their new starting quarterback, but the six-time world champions are no closer to putting a seventh Lombardi Trophy on the mantle.
Despite Aaron Rodgers’ Hall of Fame credentials, the 21-year-pro faces an uphill climb transforming the Steelers into legitimate title contenders this season.
And the two sides likely have just one season to make magic happen, with Rodgers telling “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday he is “pretty sure” he will retire following the 2025 NFL season.
“What a better place to finish than one of the cornerstone franchises of the NFL,” Rodgers told McAfee.
While the marriage between Rodgers and Mike Tomlin will dominate headlines and make the Steelers “must-see TV” based on the collaboration of a pair of future gold jacket wearers, this pairing between superstar quarterback and elite head coach seems destined to fail if judged on the team’s championship standards. The Steelers have traditionally been a run-first team that heavily relied on their stellar defense to chalk up regular-season wins, but that tactic has failed to produce a playoff win since 2016.
Although the formula has helped Tomlin avoid a losing season throughout his legendary career, the conservative approach has routinely led to a few regular-season “duds” that cost the team top seeding in the postseason tournament. Moreover, the throwback game plans have made the Steelers an “easy out” when the calendar pages reach December and January.
Perhaps Rodgers can do what Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson could not do before him and give the Steelers a credible threat that forces opponents to build game plans designed to limit the impact of the quarterback. Though Rogers is in the twilight of his career and coming off a disappointing two-year stint with the New York Jets, he has posted impressive marks for most of his 20-year career (65.1% completion rate, 62,952 pass yards, 503:116 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 102.6 passer rating). Most importantly, he is a proven winner with a 153-87-1 career record and an extensive history of coming through in clutch situations, as evidenced by his 23 fourth-quarter comebacks and 34 game-winning drives.
Considering how the Steelers routinely relied on Roethlisberger’s fourth-quarter (41 fourth-quarter comebacks and 53 game-winning drives in 18 seasons) and magic to win during the best years of the Tomlin era, it is sensible for the team to hitch their wagon to a quarterback with a winning pedigree to level up in 2025.
“Read his resume,” Mike Tomlin told reporters following Pittsburgh’s first minicamp practice. “We’re excited about him being here, he’s excited about being here, but we’ll make no bold predictions. We’re just gonna roll our sleeves up and go to work and let our efforts do the talking.”
Despite his previous success, Rodgers’ transition to the Steelers’ offense will require a lot of “give-and-take” on both sides. The Steelers logged the fourth-most rushing attempts in 2024, while Rodgers attempted the second-most passes last season with the Jets. The pass-heavy approach continued a trend that dates back to his days with the Green Bay Packers, where he played for a team that attempted the fourth-fewest running plays from 2008 to 2022, per ESPN Research.
“You’d love to be more balanced,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith told reporters shortly after Rodgers signed. “You’re not obvious in how you want to attack this defense, what you think their strengths and weaknesses are. That’s the game that’s played every Sunday. … we didn’t bring Aaron in here — and signed fDK [Metcalf] for all that money — to go run the wishbone. So, you know, you try to play to the strengths of your team.”
Looking at the Steelers’ revamped roster with DK Metcalf — in fact, Rodgers says Metcalf is a “big part of the reason” he joined the Steelers — and Robert Woods joining a lineup that also features a new set of running backs in Kaleb Johnson and Kenneth Gainwell, the offense features a mix of speedsters and slick playmakers who can enable Smith to feature a game plan that meshes ball control with big-play hunting. With Rodgers at the helm, the Steelers are putting the ball in the hands of an aging assassin with the arm talent, accuracy and anticipation to torch defenders with laser-like throws when he can throw from a clean pocket.
Though the four-time MVP is coming off an 11-interception season — his second season with 10-plus interceptions in three years and the fourth of his career, he has the lowest interception percentage (1.4%) in NFL history and is a prudent decision maker when he trusts his supporting cast. As the Steelers cast him in a managerial role that requires him to take care of the ball and complement one of the league’s top defenses, Rodgers could lean into a conservative approach that prioritizes ball security over playmaking from the quarterback.
From getting the Steelers into the best play calls based on down, distance and defensive formation to avoid high-risk throws, Rodgers could spend the 2025 season focused on being efficient (completion rate of 70% or better and a passer rating of at least 100.0) and effective directing an offense that relies on “YAC” (yards after catch) derived on various “catch-and-run” concepts at short- and intermediate range.
Steelers OC Arthur Smith is tasked with designing an offense suited for Aaron Rodgers.
Arthur Smith utilized a similar plan to help Ryan Tannehill win the 2019 NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors in Tennessee. Although the Titans extensively featured play-action passes from various run-heavy sets with Derrick Henry in the backfield, the clever design of the offense enabled the veteran to play the best football of his career.
If the Steelers can re-establish a top-10 rushing attack behind a beefy offensive line that features a collection of youngsters with fewer than three years of starting experience (Broderick Jones was drafted in 2023, while Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Tony Fautanu were acquired in the 2024 draft), the team can alleviate some of the pressure on Rodgers to single-handedly carry the offense.
To that point, the Steelers’ new franchise quarterback must show a willingness to play within Smith’s system. As a veteran with 241 career starts, it can be hard for an old dog to learn new tricks when it comes to executing new or different concepts. Rodgers and Smith must find common ground on which plays best suit the quarterback’s talents, while accentuating the strengths of the rest of the Steelers’ personnel.
How the duo handles the “tug-of-war” over the offense’s philosophical approach could determine whether the Steelers chalk up enough wins to extend Tomlin’s non-losing streak and sneak into the playoffs as a wild card.
While that is well below the Steelers’ championship standard, it is the best-case scenario for a team banking on an aging former Super Bowl champion and four-time MVP to lead them on an improbable title run.
And then it is off into the sunset for Rodgers, who has one post-retirement promise.
“You won’t see me,” he told McAfee.
Bucky Brooks is an NFL analyst for FOX Sports. He also breaks down the game for NFL Network and as a cohost of the “Moving the Sticks” podcast. Follow him on Twitter @BuckyBrooks.
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