The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Aaron Rodgers with the hope that he’d do just enough to allow their defense to win them games. And yet, before the season began, many thought he wasn’t going to play well enough even to do just that.
Colin Cowherd was a voice in that crowd. But it’s safe to say the way Rodgers has looked in 2025 has changed his mind. Now, he believes Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
“Stop telling me about the Steelers’ defense. Who cares? It’s Aaron Rodgers. They can’t run the ball. The offensive line’s pass protection is rated very mid, everyone wants to tell me about this defense. This team is going as far as Aaron Rodgers is gonna take them,” Cowherd said Monday on FS1’s The Herd. “He has not played this well, in my opinion, since his last MVP season. He is moving way, way better than he did in New York. This team is Aaron Rodgers. It’s not [Mike] Tomlin, it’s not the defense. It’s Aaron. And right now he’s playing like a top-10 quarterback.”
After Sunday’s performance, some might care about the defense. For one of the first times this season, the defense was actually the reason for the win. The Steelers forced six turnovers on Sunday, allowing the offense to start most of its drives around midfield, with a couple starting in the red zone. It would have been hard for the offense to fail in that situation. It didn’t, but Aaron Rodgers still acknowledged that the unit could have been a little better.
That said, Rodgers has been everything the Steelers wanted him to be and more. He’s completed 68.7 percent of his passes and has 17 touchdowns to five interceptions, while throwing for 211.5 yards per game. That’s more than just the game-manager role they thought he might be. And his arm has been the main reason for some of their wins, as well as the only reason they’ve been competitive in some of their losses.
The Steelers’ win over the Colts feels like such a big moment because it’s a sign of what this team can be at its best. We know the offense can get into a rhythm. It’s been the better side of the ball for most of the year. However, when the defense can create splash plays and quiet an offense as talented as the Colts’, it can match up with just about anybody.
Those performances haven’t come as consistently as the Steelers have wanted. But with Aaron Rodgers leading the offense, if this defense can play like it did on Sunday, the Steelers seem like a team capable of making noise in the postseason for the first time in a while.
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