Mike Tomlin's four-word Aaron Rodgers assessment against the Los Angeles Chargers spoke volumes, with the star quarterback playing perhaps the worst game of his illustrious career
01:03 ET, 10 Nov 2025Updated 01:09 ET, 10 Nov 2025
Head coach Mike Tomlin looks on during the fourth quarter of a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on November 09, 2025 in Inglewood, California
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Mike Tomlin's four-word verdict on Aaron Rodgers' play against the Los Angeles Chargers spoke volumes(Image: Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Mike Tomlin's four-word assessment of the night Aaron Rodgers had against the Los Angeles Chargers spoke volumes.
On 'Sunday Night Football,' Tomlin, Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Southern California to take on the Chargers and what was billed to be an exciting matchup quickly lost its luster. The 41-year-old struggled mightily against the strong Chargers defense, playing one of the worst games of his career in the 25-10 loss.
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With Father Time seemingly catching up to Rodgers at SoFi Stadium, Tomlin was asked about his quarterback's performance, leading to a snappy response from the coach. The moment came after Rodgers played his first game at SoFi Stadium.
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"How would you? Next," Tomlin said succinctly when asked by reporters how he would assess the 41-year-old's performance against the Chargers. Throughout the postgame press conference, Tomlin repeatedly emphasized that the loss was not the result of any one player or position group, but rather a symptom of the team's breakdown.
"We as an offensive collective were off today," the head coach noted. "And certainly he's a component of that. I'll let him speak for himself, but we certainly got to be better. Didn't feel like they did anything unanticipated, but certainly they outperformed us, particularly in possession down play."
When asked if he believed Rodgers still had what it took to be the leader on the field the Steelers need him to be, Tomlin added: "I'm not lacking confidence. We stunk it up tonight. We'll be back."
Aaron Rodgers #8 of the Pittsburgh Steelers looks on before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on November 09, 2025 in Inglewood, California
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Aaron Rodgers had arguably one of the worst games of his career against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday(Image: Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Against the Chargers, Rodgers completed just 16 of 31 pass attempts with one touchdown and two interceptions. As a whole, it appeared as if the star quarterback just couldn't find a rhythm, either overthrowing or leaving the ball short for his receivers throughout the night.
At one point, a graphic was shown on 'Sunday Night Football' that displayed Rodgers' completion percentage, yards per pass, and his QB rating, based on a minimum of 15 passes. In each particular metric, it was the 41-year-old's second-lowest, third-lowest, and lowest career rank, respectively.
Fans on social media noted that Rodgers' struggles could be attributed to a number of factors, including Tomlin's coaching and the style Pittsburgh plays with.
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"He's literally playing for the most conservative head coach in the history of the NFL. The other team knows what he's going to do. You can put Tom Brady in there and he's not going to have success. This is 100% on Tomlin. Rogers was running for his life the whole game," the fan noted.
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In the end, Rodgers took responsibility for the loss, believing that the team goes as far as he goes. "I expect to play great every single week and this was not my best performance. I got to play better in this for us to win," the quarterback told reporters.
"Whatever it takes. I got to make, you know, if it's better checks, if it's better throws, whatever it is, I got to play better. I will, you know, but we got to bounce back. You know, I felt like our energy and it starts with me. It wasn't as great on offense.
"I felt like we were just kind of struggling a little bit and couldn't get a play to get going. ... I didn't play very good at all. So I got to play better. But we also got to realize, listen, we got four division games left to play. It's a long season and, you know, it's a good opponent and we didn't play very good tonight."