A Letter From the Editor: The parallel between Aaron Rodgers and the 2020 Steelers
Earlier this week when the rumors started to swirl of Aaron Rodgers finally making a decision of joining the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2025, I got excited. To clarify, I didn’t feel as if Rodgers made the team an immediate Super Bowl contender, but it made the upcoming season more exciting.
When the news broke, a friend of mine, who is a Miami Dolphins fan, sent me a message stating, “This is going to be a disaster.” My response was simple, “It is going to be must-watch TV no matter what.”
In total transparency, since I’ve been covering the Steelers in some capacity, which dates back to 2013-2014, I had never experienced an offseason workout session which was so boring. There was absolutely no juice surrounding the team, and everyone, including the Steelers front office, had seemed to be looking at 2026 and the NFL Draft.
It was a bridge year in the making.
But when Rodgers finally made his decision, excitement was injected into the season, and I’m glad it did. I said it earlier, and I’ll say it again, I’m not suggesting Rodgers will make the team a Super Bowl contender, but they’ll be a lot more exciting than the alternative. On the Steelers Preview podcast Thursday night I was talking about this very subject when I made a comparison to what the non-Rodgers Steelers and the Rodgers Steelers season could be compared to at this juncture.
Let’s all pull a Wayne’s World and get magically whisked away back to 2019…
In Week 2, a home game against the Seattle Seahawks, Ben Roethlisberger tears up his elbow just before halftime and is lost for the season. The Steelers turn to a combination of Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges to complete the season, and they just barely miss the postseason.
While fans pulled for this team and their back-up signal callers, there is no doubt the team was carried by a tremendous defense.
If the Steelers were going to head into the 2025 regular season with Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and Will Howard as their quarterback room, it would have been 2019 all over again. Fans would have rallied around the group, as they typically do, but it would have been a constant “pulling for the underdogs” season.
Let’s now fast forward a year to 2020.
This season was the return of Ben Roethlisberger from that elbow injury, and everyone was curious what the aging quarterback still had left in the tank. Roethlisberger put out a YouTube series about his recovery, and fans were all excited about the potential of an offense revitalized being matched with the stout returning defense. They were trying to reclaim some magic and make a run at a Super Bowl.
That year did start out magical, with an 11-0 record, but faded quickly and the team was one-and-done in the postseason.
With the Steelers offense now being led by Rodgers, the 2025 season definitely has some of those 2020 vibes to it. No longer would the team be viewed as constant underdogs just looking ahead to 2026, but now can be considered a legitimate threats every time they step on the field. Clearly that doesn’t mean they will win every time they take the field, but they are a threat to do something special.
The team will be trying to reclaim some magic left in Rodgers before he calls it a career, and the underlying question of whether or not he’ll be more of the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, or the New York Jets Aaron Rodgers is anyone’s guess. But just like in 2020, everyone will be glued to their televisions wondering what will happen.
At this point, the 2025 Pittsburgh Steelers will be must-watch television…
When the Steelers moved their #2 WR to Dallas and seemed content to roll with Mason, it felt to me like tanking without actually tanking. It had all the hallmarks of we’re gonna play our best, but with a roster that’s incomplete enough to top out at a 5 win season. Now with Rodgers here, it feels at least like they think they can make their annual cameo in the post season. I don’t, but we shall see.
I think 11 wins, I believe Roethlisberger and McFadden without question. One guaranteed win 02 Nov vs. Colts, for the Steeler alumni, SteelYinzer, and me.
I will NOT stand for this blasphemy against my man Mason! Harrumph!
😉
Oh $@!# I’ve earned a harrumph!
It would have been fun to see what he could do. He’s got heart, and the locker room seems to like him, but unfortunately he doesn’t have all the gifts top QB’s have. He kinda reminds me of Brad Johnson in that way. He’s gott work a lot harder, and and study a lot more just to stay on the field than most “starter” types.
I have a feeling we’ll see him for a few games this year, and I’m not at all scared by that.
‘I have a feeling we’ll see him for a few games this year, and I’m not at all scared by that.‘
+1 Rec
Hey, Brad won a championship! Go Noles!
I always look forward to your Sunday Morning pieces Jeff. I agree, it is must watch on so many levels. The most significant watch is how will Smith and Rodgers work together. I certainly think or at least hope that Rodgers has the leeway to make changes at the LOS depending on what he sees. Smith has been mentioned as a guy that want’s/expects his QB to run what he calls into the headset. I’m assuming it’s more about his value in terms of rhythm for himself than the appearance of control.
But who knows?
I can’t even imagine trying to get inside of Rodgers head but he is a HOFer and his talent as a passer should not be questioned, outside the age element. Even then he had solid numbers in New York. But that dynamic between OC and QB still looms as the team moves closer to Mandatory Mini Camp. Let’s face it Ben had issues with his play caller at times so that shouldn’t be an issue for Tomlin or at least a new one to handle.
Maybe it won’t be an issue?
Someone on another Steeler site posted a hypothetical in reference to a AFC Championship game. And how we as fans would view that. My response was to sign him to another contract. Let’s be real, how long has that been? We are talking 2016 and I think that coincides with the last playoff win as well. Hell yeah you try and bring him back for another year.
Is it likely? Probably not. Is it possible? I mean anything is possible.
All I know it will be must watch TV but who are we kidding we as fans of the Black and Gold were going to watch a Mason Rudolph led team. It still feels different though, now that he is signed. If only that pass pro and run game can work itself out.
Will we still be wondering what a receiver room of…
DK
Pickens
CA3
Wilson
Woods
Skowronek
….could have looked like?
Sure, anything is possible, 1984 and 1989 both actually happened, with arguably poorer rosters than what the current one will be on paper.
I’ll revise “rosters” above” to “quaterbacks”. Rosters are more matched than I remembered, on paper. Weren’t Roethlisberger’s issues Mostly with known prickly-pear Todd Haley back then?
yep
Shame, Haley extended BR7’s career, in hindsight. And they put up points. Happens.
I was part of the pitchfork and fire crowd that wanted Hailey gone. Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for LOL
Also happens. C’est le vie. Fichtner looked good for a minute, there’s that.
Weren’t wrong to want him gone. No other team wanted him, that speaks pretty loudly to me.
Haley is indeed TOO prickly, though smart. Washed out of Chiefs’ and Showboats’ HC jobs. Fichtner was just bad OC.
I blame Todd’s H.S. for his prickliness, Upper St. Clair, ya know.
And now Pgh needs a TE(3?) and WR2. Beat moves on, still time before training camp.
Don’t sell JJ Galbreath short. He’s more of an H back but he has solid receiving chops
Never, but blocking and special teams? Preseason.
I stand corrected it’s the Thomas-Jones kid I was talking about. Sorry my brain is in slow mode this morning. He’s the FB/HB guy that has the versatility. Galbreath will need time to develop but is still a solid pick up.
Agreed, Steelers need that guy, and he’d better be adequate on teams, too.
Indeed. I think Galbreath is more of a move TE type. Still, I think that is also a need-fit for this offense. I look forward to seeing how it shakes out!
Will Howard backs Galbreath solidly, FWIW. Source is that website Tony Defeo hated, alledgedly.
Does Defeo still write here
Not at the moment, I kinda miss him. He lived near where I grew up.
Thanks, I pop in from time to time but I haven’t seen any of his articles for a while now.
Small thing, you’re welcome. Jeff spoke about Tony some time ago, said Tony was pausing from writing. Writing is work, thus I avoid it.
This upcoming season definitely looks a lot more intriguing now that A-Rod is in the fold. And as someone who never quite understood all of the negativity surrounding Rodgers, I did some research on the various controversies surrounding him over the years. I have to conclude that, although I don’t personally agree with some of the views he has expressed (e.g. the ones that seem to attract the most criticism), most of these controversies were pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
That’s why I find it shocking that, anytime his name is mentioned, so many people have nothing good to say about the guy. Clearly, he walks to the beat of his own drummer and he doesn’t want anyone dictating the terms of how he plays the game. But so do a lot of other top NFL quarterbacks.
Given his stellar career record, I think Rodgers has earned the right to continue playing the game entirely on his own terms. And the best thing the Steelers organization can do this season is simply to let Rodgers be Rodgers. Whatever capabilities some believe he has lost at age 41, I can’t recall a single season in his storied career when Aaron was anything less than a strong and spirited competitor.
I agree there are no guarantees about how the coming season will unfold.
But if 2025 conforms in any substantial respect to the bulk of the Rodgers career, we’re going to be enjoying Steelers football far more than we had been expecting.
Bill, you are nothing if not persistent. I ask, whom in this thread has written anything negative regarding AARod?
Heck, I’m counting on Aaron to contribute positively toward 11 Steelers’s victories in the ’25 regular season. Beautiful team victories, I can’t wait, I’m so excited.
It must be noted, though, all of Rodgers’ previous “stellar career record” means nothing moving into the ’25 regular NFL season. As Noll would say (to Mike Wagner) NFL players must be “tomorrow peopie”, as yesterday’s gone. (Fleetwood Mac, yes?)
You a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, by chance? I am also nothing if not persistent.
Not to speak for him, but I do not read Bill’s comments as directed only at this thread. In general, it seems Rodgers receives overwhelming negativity. Just look at all the memes of his “meeting his new team” that ridicule how much he’ll be resented or make everyone feel awkward.
I agree with Bill that, when you really look at it with the big picture in mind and especially compared to the words and actions of other athletes, his controversies are relatively minor. I’d say he’s just a person with unique personal practices and opinions that has played qb for so long that he’s not likely to suddenly think any OC is going to be able to teach him lots of new tricks.
I think our ever present divided political culture (on virtually every possible issue) is behind a lot of the negativity about Rodgers, honestly. If everyone were looking just at the game of football, they’d probably think he isn’t a tame guy, but given most circumstances (replacement not all that patiently waiting in the wings with a newer coach in GB, and a complete organizational mess in NY), they’d likely say his football controversy isn’t beyond understanding and he is what he is as a long and storied qb on his last stop.