Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers have gotten off to a strong start to the 2025 NFL season. Coming out of their Week 5 bye week, the team holds a 3-1 record and are clearly atop the AFC North division race at this point in time.
Of course, the season is still very young. The Steelers have a lot of work to do to reach their ultimate goal of reaching the playoffs and making a deep postseason run, but the early results have been good.
During the offseason, Pittsburgh made it very clear that it was going all-in on trying to win now. Signing Rodgers to a one-year deal was one of the moves they made, but the Steelers also traded for DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey, and Jonnu Smith. Everything they did during the offseason was geared towards making a run at a Super Bowl this year.
At the end of the season, it is widely expected that Rodgers will retire. However, he has played well through his first four games with Pittsburgh. Despite his solid performance, Rodgers has caught some major disrespect.
Pro Football Focus recently ranked Rodgers as the worst starting quarterback in the NFL this season. That is a wild take and one that has not gone uncontested.
Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did not hesitate to fire back at PFF.
"The Steelers have needed a lot from Rodgers - and here's the important part that PFF seems to ignore: He's working around an offensive line that nearly got him killed in the first few weeks of the season and only has one legit wide receiver," Starkey wrote.
He continued on, providing more detail on why PFF is incorrect in its assessment of Rodgers.
"What Rodgers has done is deliver the ball accurately and make plays in big moments. He's thinking the game and mostly winning the game," Starkey wrote. "In fact, the Steelers are winning largely because of Rodgers, not in spite of him. He was spectacular by any measure (except PFF's) in the season opener against the Jets, going 22-of-30 for 230 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions with a brand new team."
Throughout the first four games of the season, Rodgers has completed 68.5 percent of his pass attempts for 786 yards, eight touchdowns, and three interceptions. To say that those numbers are the worst starting quarterback in the NFL is a bit far-fetched.
Rodgers may not be loved by the media. Over the years, he has plenty of run-ins with the media and has held stances that the media has not liked. That has put him on the radar as a target.
Regardless of the outside noise, Rodgers is focused on winning a championship. It will be interesting to see if he is able to make that happen for the Steelers.
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