Aaron Rodgers sobbed, according to the Athletic, when Mike Tomlin announced to the team he was stepping down as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 12 after another wild-card round exit.
“I’m sorry,” Rodgers said, per the report.
Now those tears could be turning into ones of joy with the Steelers hiring native son Mike McCarthy, his longtime coach with the Green Bay Packers from 2006-2018.
The head coach-quarterback pairing won Super Bowl 45 with the Packers.
After spending the 2025 season with the Steelers and winning the AFC North, Rodgers is a free agent with an uncertain future, to say the least. His decision to sign with the Steelers last June came after months of speculation. The reason, he often told the media, that Pittsburgh was his next late-stage destination was Tomlin.
At the end of his two-year tenure with the New York Jets, which was mired by a torn Achilles in 2023 and soap-opera 2024 campaign that included a fired head coach and too many appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers told a member of the local media he could see himself winding up where McCarthy — who coached the Dallas Cowboys from 2020-2024 — did.
Rodgers’ next decision may include darkness retreats and culturally illicit substances. But McCarthy’s presence in Pittsburgh will be noteworthy, even if the NFL Network separately reported prior to the hiring that the Steelers would be moving on.
Steelers owner Art Rooney II told reporters after the Tomlin split that he had no designs of a rebuild.
Rodgers obviously doesn’t embody his former four-time MVP self most days but it’s pretty evident he can make most of the throws a starting quarterback in the NFL must make to keep his team competitive. His mental understanding of the game is second to none, although his teammates’ inability to match him intellectually often rears its ugly head.
Backup Mason Rudolph is under contract next season and Will Howard will be entering his second NFL season. For Rooney’s vision to become a reality, presenting either as a viable option to winning is dubious.
Perhaps McCarthy, 62, will stick in his hometown long enough that he can develop the next franchise quarterback. Acquiring said player in the coming months, particularly via the draft — the Steelers’ first-round selection (No. 21 overall) — doesn’t seem likely.
They’ll need a stopgap in some shape or form. McCarthy knows Rodgers. Rodgers knows McCarthy. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
