Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers talks with teammates during training camp at Saint Vincent College, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Latrobe.
This is not the same as it was in 2021, when the Steelers, their fans and the city celebrated the farewell of Ben Roethlisberger.
Big Ben was a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Pittsburgh with Pro Football Hall of Fame production, and his 18 seasons with the Steelers were the longest tenure of any NFL quarterback with one team.
Nonetheless, when Aaron Rodgers retires as a member of the Steelers after 22 decorated NFL seasons — the final two here — it certainly will serve as a momentous occasion in the world of sports.
“I don’t think anybody played the position better for a period of years than Aaron Rodgers,” said Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach and television analyst. “Some of the statistical seasons he put together in that cold weather in Green Bay, it’s really astonishing.”
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Robert Spears-Jennings greets a fan as he’s introduced before an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026, in Pittsburgh.
Rodgers, 42, has already announced he will retire after the 2026 season, leaving no doubt about his intentions. He said in training camp he is looking forward to fatherhood, changing diapers and a quieter life with his wife, Brittani.
His swan song will occupy a small chapter in the proud history of the Steelers.
It is not known if the Steelers will plan anything special for Rodgers’ final home appearance on Dec. 27 against the Carolina Panthers. After all, this is not the same as when Roethlisberger played his final game at Acrisure Stadium amid much emotion and fanfare — just four days after he announced he was retiring.
But it is Aaron Rodgers, a four-time league MVP and Super Bowl champion himself. And 2026 will mark the end of a career for one of the most dynamic, prolific, successful and, at times, polarizing quarterbacks in NFL history.
‘Best thrower’ ever?
Rodgers is part of the latest golden era of quarterbacks that includes Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Eli Manning and Roethlisberger. They all lifted the Lombardi Trophy.
Rodgers ranks fifth in NFL history in passing yards (66,274), fifth in completions (5,696), fourth in touchdowns (527) and first in passer rating (102.2, percentage points ahead of Lamar Jackson). He leads all active quarterbacks with 163 career victories and with three more will pass Roethlisberger for fifth on the all-time list.
Rodgers is one of just five players to be named NFL MVP in back-to-back seasons.
Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. pulls in a ball during training camp at Saint Vincent College, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Latrobe.
He will likely become the fourth quarterback in the Hall of Fame to have played at least part of his career with the Steelers, joining Bobby Layne, Terry Bradshaw and Roethlisberger. Only the New York Giants have had more, with five.
“To be able to play with the best thrower of the football ever, regardless if it’s his first year or last year, is a cool opportunity,” said receiver Ben Skowronek, one of Rodgers’ best friends on the team. “I’m excited for this journey together.”
In his prime, Rodgers could do it all.
He led the league in completion percentage in 2020, in touchdowns in 2016 and 2020, in quarterback rating on four occasions and six times had the NFL’s lowest interception rate.
In 2025, after two seasons with the moribund New York Jets, Rodgers signed with the Steelers and became reinvigorated. He won 10 of the 16 games he started and led them to the division title.
“You see how gifted he is, but then you understand how he puts in the time and just the knowledge he has for it,” defensive end Cam Heyward said. “So when you can add both of those together, it’s like, damn — you see why he’s won four MVPs. It’s just up another level.”
And after some reported friction later in his tenure in Green Bay and in New York, Rodgers has earned rave reviews here in the locker room, as well.
“What an awesome teammate he is,” former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “He doesn’t get enough credit for that. And I don’t know that he wants or is looking for credit for that. He thinks about the collective. He’s legitimately unselfish.”
A Hollywood ending
With the 2026 season about to kick off, the backdrop for Rodgers’ final campaign could not have been scripted better if it were a Netflix miniseries.
Rodgers gets to end his career playing for the same coach he began it with — Mike McCarthy.
McCarthy, a Greenfield native, was the head coach in Green Bay when Rodgers replaced Brett Favre in 2008. In 13 seasons together, they earned 109 victories, five division titles and a Super Bowl win against the Steelers in 2010.
“Mike and I had a lot of great years together,” Rodgers said recently. “We’ve got a close friendship, and it’s fun to be able to go out with him as my head coach and play-caller.”
During his exit interview with general manager Omar Khan after the 2025 season, Rodgers passingly mentioned — almost jokingly — McCarthy was available as a possible successor to Tomlin, who stepped down as head coach in January. But Rodgers never thought a reunion was possible.
Now, here they are, hoping to recapture Camelot one last time.
“It’s special. There’s no doubt about it,” McCarthy said. “Trust me — that’s not lost on me. Every day, I think it’s super cool that I get to line up with him one more time.”
McCarthy’s ‘monster’
Gruden worked one year on Paul Hackett’s staff at Pitt in 1991 before going on to become a Super Bowl-winning coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also on that Panthers staff, working as a graduate assistant, was McCarthy.
Gruden knows the impact Hackett had on McCarthy, who joined the former Pitt coach in Kansas City when Hackett was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator for five years. And Gruden knows the impact McCarthy had on Rodgers.
“He’s just a one-of-a-kind quarterback,” Gruden said, “and I give Mike McCarthy a lot of credit for being there during the transition years where Rodgers took over for Favre.”
Gruden, who like McCarthy is known for his work with quarterbacks, said McCarthy and Rodgers “recreated fundamentals” back in their Green Bay days.
“I think Rodgers is the first guy I’ve ever seen put his right foot back in the shotgun as a right-handed quarterback,” the former coach noted.
Gruden said Rodgers had the “greatest combination of quickness” he has seen. He believes McCarthy deserves some of the credit for that.
“Mental quickness, body quickness, arm quickness — and a lot of that had to do with the creative drills that McCarthy did with him. A lot of it has to do with Rodgers' great talent and work ethic,” Gruden said. “But the combination of those two guys, they created a monster.”
It was evident early, even when Rodgers served as Favre’s backup for three seasons. Gruden said Hall of Fame cornerback Charles Woodson once told him Rodgers would “shred” the Packers’ first-team defense in practice.
“He has this chip on his shoulder,” Gruden said. “He knew he was better than everybody else. And I think he played with the state of rage. I really do.”
Rodgers smiled when told of Gruden’s comment.
“When I was a young player, I wanted to just absolutely dominate the defense every day,” Rodgers said. “I always told our guys [on offense] that I want you to over-celebrate, just to piss off the defense a little bit. I want to play a little bit harder, just to get them to play a little bit harder.”
When Dom Capers arrived as the Packers’ defensive coordinator in 2009, Rodgers had already replaced Favre as the starter. He saw how competitive Rodgers was, even in practice, especially when he would try to fool Rodgers by throwing a different look at him that wasn’t on the call sheet.
“If we ever got him on a blitz or on a blitz look, one time, you were going to get it the next time,” Capers said. “He would look right at you like, ‘OK, [it’s on].’ ”
One more Hail Mary
With his MVPs, gaudy statistics and a Super Bowl victory alongside McCarthy and Capers in Green Bay, Rodgers checks every box as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. When he is inducted, he will go in wearing the green and gold of the Packers. But a small piece of him will belong to the Steelers.
They are the team that embraced him last year when seemingly not many around the league — even around Pittsburgh — would do so.
When Rodgers was procrastinating about coming to the Steelers before the 2025 season, even Heyward grew tired of the prolonged delay.
“Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don’t,” Heyward said at the time.
The team’s defensive captain and leader has since changed his opinion of Rodgers.
“He just wanted a clean slate, and we were willing to give him that,” Heyward said. “Every player that walks in this locker room is given a clean slate. We don’t care where you came from. But just getting to know him, I love the way he goes about his business and I love what he’s about.”
Rodgers will turn 43 in December and, in his words, has never had a fall to himself. He said there is “zero doubt” he will retire after the season and he only came back for 2026 because he wanted to give it another go with McCarthy.
He does not care about the public perception, only what his teammates thought of him.
“A guy who cared a lot, was always prepared, that tried to make it fun, that loved to prank them,” Rodgers said when asked how he wanted to be remembered. “Just was somebody you could count on to go out there and play through anything and be the most prepared guy on the field.”
But before he says farewell to football, Rodgers is eyeing one more special run in 2026.
First Published: September 10, 2026, 1:00 a.m.