Aaron Rodgers, Over and Out? Not Necessarily

PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS DURING A REGULAR SEASON GAME BETWEEN THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS AND THE CINCINNATI BENGALS, THURSDAY, OCT. 16, 2025 IN CINCINNATI, OH. | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Amid the elation and chaos that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the Steelers’ last-second, last-play survival game against the Ravens, Pittsburgh’s quarterback and the coach embraced.

And as that took place, NFL Films was there to capture a snippet of video and audio that won’t soon be forgotten.

“Thank you for bringing me here,” Aaron Rodgers told Mike Tomlin.

“You kidding me? Thank you for coming,” Tomlin responded.

It’s hard not to be romantic about football.

The only question now involves how long the quarterback intends to keep playing the game.

There’s still football to be played before Rodgers can begin to seriously consider whether he has yet another season in him; there’s one game for certain on Monday night against Houston to cap the NFL’s Wild Card Weekend — and who knows how many, if any, after that.

But we do know when Rodgers first arrived after much delay, debate and consternation it was assumed by everyone, Rodgers included, that his first season with the Steelers would also be his last.

Now? Not so much.

AARON RODGERS | PHOTO BY ALYSA RUBIN/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Rodgers emphasized back in August that he signed on with the Steelers because he wanted “one more crack at it.”

He meant the camaraderie as much, if not more, than another Lombardi trophy.

What’s resulted since then has exceeded the expectations of both parties; this hasn’t been a redemption story, it’s been a fairy tale — and it will be remembered as such, even if it ultimately doesn’t have a happy ending.

Beyond the leadership and the professionalism the Steelers so badly needed from Rodgers, and that he has so emphatically provided for the team, the guy can still play — even at 42 years of age.

Rodgers proved that again last Sunday night against the Ravens, when he led not one, but two drives in the final eight minutes of the game that gave the Steelers a lead against their most-hated rival in what was an elimination game.

Days before that desperate battle took place, Rodgers faced questions about his future; he made it clear he preferred not to entertain those thoughts just yet.

Rather than simply refuse to answer, a tactic he has regularly resorted to with the media this season, Rodgers pulled back the curtain a bit on his mindset at present, and his experience this season, if not his future plans.

“It’s been a really special year,” Rodgers said a week ago. “It’s been even better than I was hoping.”

At the time, he was talking about how he’d been received by his teammates, coaches, the organization and by Steeler Nation.

When asked how he felt he’d played this season before slaying the Ravens with everything at stake, Rodgers voluntarily contemplated how much better he might play next season, if there is one.

It was “Story Time with Aaron” again at that juncture — another staple of Rodgers’ brand of media relations — and the story detailed his transition in Green Bay from Mike McCarthy as the Packers head coach in 2018 to Matt LaFleur in 2019.

“Any time you’re in a first-year offense, there’s always some growing pains within the offense,” Rodgers said. “You feel like if you had another year, what you could do. I look at 2019, the way I played in 2019, and then kind of the adjustments we made in the offseason, and then the way I played in 2020, which was just a whole kind of different level, I felt like.

“I used to tease LaFleur about this all the time, I was a game-manager in 2019 and a game-impactor in 2020 and 2021. I think a lot of that is just familiarity with the offense and with the guys.

“We’ve done the best we could with our conversations and our meeting time outside the facility and our meeting time inside the facility. Obviously, the more years you get in the system with the same guys, the more continuity you have, the better you feel like you can play.”

Do you think that sounds like a guy convinced there’s not a 22nd season in him after all?

Me, neither.