Tomlin, Steelers take gamble on Rodgers amid mounting playoff failures

When Aaron Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the offseason, it marked the closing of a disastrous chapter with the New York Jets while also giving the four-time MVP an opportunity to author a different ending to an otherwise storied career before his induction into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.

At the start of training camp, Rodgers stated that the decision to continue his career for at least one more season came down to getting the chance to play in Pittsburgh, stating that he “didn’t need to keep playing’ and that “there wasn’t any other option” to suit up for another team in the league.

“This was a decision that was best for my soul”, he said. “And I felt like being here with coach [Mike Tomlin] and the guys that got here and the opportunity here was the best for me and I'm excited to be here.”

Rodgers now enters the fray in Pittsburgh fresh off of the heels of an unceremonious exit from New York in which he posted the worst quarterback record of his now 21-year career at 5-12.

The Chico, Calif, native’s season-long stats came out to 3,897 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but the Jets’ offence never quite appeared to be in sync with him at the helm, ranking in the bottom half of the league in passing yards (218.5), rushing yards (91.8), and points (19.9) per game.

The Jets relieved Robert Saleh of his head coaching duties following a sluggish start to the year, before swinging a trade for Davante Adams in the hopes of keeping their Super Bowl aspirations alive. Those changes went for naught in the end as the Jets finished with the sixth-worst record in the AFC, missing out on the playoffs for the 14th year in a row.

Aaron Rodgers New York Jets

In January, the Jets hired former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as their new head coach, who ultimately made the decision to move on at quarterback and put an end to the Rodgers experiment in New York.

After a lengthy stay in free agency, 10-time Pro Bowler finally agreed to a $13.65 million deal for the 2025 season, a gamble that Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan are hoping can take the team out of an era of instability at the quarterback position.

The Steelers have started five different signal-callers in the three years since Ben Roethlisberger retired, with Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, Justin Fields, and Russell Wilson all getting the opportunity to start under centre in the Steel City.

Now, the franchise takes a gamble on a 41-year-old Rodgers in what could be a make-or-break season for Tomlin, the longest-tenured head coach in the league.

As he gets set to enter his 19th year in charge of the Steelers, Tomlin’s resume includes 12 playoff berths, two AFC Championships, a Super Bowl win, and a Coach of the Year Award, but numerous playoff failures have begun to pile up in recent years.

Mike Tomlin Pittsburgh Steelers

Despite qualifying for the postseason in four of the past five seasons, the Steelers are one of eight teams in the league that have failed to win a playoff game since 2016. 

Rodgers will lead a new-look unit in Pittsburgh this season, with big changes coming on both sides of the the ball. George Pickens, Najee Harris, Larry Ogunjobi, and Donte Jackson mark the key departures from last year, but the team has since re-tooled the roster with veteran additions such as DK Metcalf, Jonnu Smith, Darius Slay, and Jalen Ramsey. 

The University of California product appears to be set up for success in Pittsburgh with the pieces around him, but the question remains whether or not he can turn back the clock in a foreign offensive scheme to contend in what appears to be a competitive AFC North division.

After throwing 584 pass attempts in 2024, the second most in the NFL, Rodgers will now take snaps in an offence ran by Arthur Smith that attempted the fourth-highest rushing attempts last year.

The Steelers once again figure to be among the league leaders in that category, sporting a backfield with serviceable rushers Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, and standout rookie Kaleb Johnson.

The emphasis on running the ball in Pittsburgh could serve to help Rodgers by enhancing one of his greatest strengths over the course of his career: the play action pass.

During the years in which he won back-to-back MVPs in 2020-21, Rodgers threw 31 touchdowns with no interceptions from play-action while using it at a top-10 rate in the league with the Green Bay Packers under Matt LaFleur.

Aaron Rodgers Aaron Jones Green Bay Packers

With his role in the Steelers’ run-first offence still yet to be determined, FanDuel Sportsbook has set his season-long passing yardage total at 3200.5 and his passing touchdowns at 22.5, both well down from his full-season averages in each of the past three years.

No matter how Tomlin and Smith decide to utilize their new quarterback, the focus will need to be on improving the offensive line play for Rodgers to have any chance of success in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers allowed a 38.6 per cent pressure rate (29th in the NFL) and a 9.8 per cent sack rate against the blitz (22nd) last season while protecting Fields and Wilson, quarterbacks who are significantly more mobile in the pocket than Rodgers.

With three players on the o-line coming into their sophomore season, and Broderick Jones entering his third, Pittsburgh will need to vastly improve at limiting access to their quarterback, who has been sacked 571 times over the course of his career, the most in NFL history.

The Steelers have hitched their hopes in 2025 on Rodgers after the worst year of his career. Whether or not it all works out remains to be seen, but the signing holds high stakes for both the team and player.

Pittsburgh adds an all-time great quarterback to an already talented roster with an opportunity to buck the trend of one-and-done playoff appearances, while Rodgers gets the chance to wash away the failures in New York and chase another Super Bowl before calling it a career and riding off into the sunset.