CLEVELAND, Ohio — Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is strolling down the quarterback aisle next to Aaron Rodgers. And if Tomlin counts any close friends, now would be their cue to speak.
Rodgers has divorced two straight franchises under contentious grounds. He hasn’t made the playoffs since 2021. He is not the football partner Tomlin thinks, but when reporters asked about Rodgers’ arrival at Steelers minicamp last week, the coach cracked a contented smile.
“Read his resume,” Tomlin said this week. “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.”
Ah, yes. The Work, aka the Reality Check. In life, like in football, true love only lasts so long. And minicamp quotes, like the honeymoon phase, are no measure of compatibility.
Time will tell whether 41-year-old Rodgers, two years removed from a torn Achilles, can still spin the ball well enough to raise Pittsburgh’s recent 10-win ceiling (Father Time’s guess: no). But I can surmise today, June 16, that this podcast-guest quarterback and his all-business boss will mix poorly. And I can point to each man’s lengthy track record as evidence.
Start with Tomlin, whose “winning is our business” mantra suggests little patience for outside distractions. Don’t get me wrong, Pittsburgh has rostered plenty of mercurial players over the years, including (but not limited to) Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell and George Pickens. All enjoyed success with the Steelers. But Pickens and Brown were eventually traded, and Bell left the team due to a contract dispute.
Typically, Tomlin cuts bait when his Tylenol dosage outweighs a player’s talent. And as Rodgers enters his 21st season, he’s inching closer to the Steelers coach’s headache threshold.
Consider the quarterback’s recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, a three-hour marathon that included conversations about COVID-19 vaccines, the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, UFOs and transgender women in sports. Whatever your take on those topics, we can all agree they generate headlines. And we can all agree none fall under Tomlin’s “business” umbrella.
Do you believe in aliens, coach? With Rodgers under center, this counts as a football question. Tomlin can (and will) beat such inquiries away. And if Pittsburgh is winning, the Steelers can (and will) stomach Rodgers’ side quests.
But the Jets grew sick of his free thinking after a 5-12 season. Despite New York’s unstable quarterback room and Rodgers’ respectable 2024 stat line — 63% completion rate, 3,897 yards, 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions — New York agreed to part ways with the future Hall of Famer this offseason. And according to The [Athletic’s Dianna Russini](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jets-reportedly-asked-aaron-rodgers-to-stop-doing-pat-mcafee-appearances-if-he-wanted-to-stay-with-team/), part of their impasse related to Rodgers’ “Pat McAfee Show” appearances.
Rodgers guest stars every Tuesday during the season, and he’s never boring. In the past two years alone, he’s started news cycles concerning the Jeffery Epstein files, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel and the Epstein files, and, once again, the COVID-19 vaccine (a Rodgers favorite). Tomlin meets with local reporters on Tuesdays, too. Wonder how many questions he’ll field next season about Rodgers’ latest tangent. Wonder how many wins the resulting headaches are worth.
And as minicamp ends, giving Rodgers more free time, I’m wondering which of Tomlin’s friends will save him from a bad football marriage.
“A big attraction (to the Steelers) was Mike Tomlin,” Rodgers said last week. “I’ve gone against him over the years. The way that the conversations went between him and I … was some of the coolest conversations I’ve had in the game, definitely with a head coach. He’s a big reason I’m here. I believe in him, and I’m excited to play for him."
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