PITTSBURGH — Aaron Rodgers spent the week insisting his first-ever game against the Green Bay Packers wasn’t personal. That he wasn’t looking for revenge against the team he defined for the better part of two decades.
Good thing, because there was none to be had on Sunday night in Pittsburgh’s 35-25 loss to Green Bay.
Instead, there was only reminder after reminder that while the 41-year-old Rodgers can still compete at a high level, the team that surrounds him remains very much a work in progress. And maybe an iffy one at that.
Rodgers threw for 219 yards and two scores in Pittsburgh’s second straight loss, the first time he’s ever looked across the field and watched the Packers celebrate victory on the other.
“Disappointed,” Rodgers said. “Disappointed that I didn’t play better, that we didn’t play better, especially in the second half.”
Rodgers spent 18 years in Green Bay building a resume that will one day land him in the Hall of Fame. Four MVPs and a Super Bowl title will do that. Yet rather than retire as a Packer, Rodgers kept going.
That journey eventually brought him to Pittsburgh, where he is serving as a highly skilled stopgap to whichever franchise quarterback might come next. Rodgers has shown flashes that he can still bring it when he has to in his 21st season. But the days when his brilliance can almost single-handedly overcome his team’s considerable warts are over.
After a promising 4-1 start, the Steelers have dropped two straight and while Rodgers has no interest in riding the weekly roller coaster that is the NFL season, he’s also well aware there’s too much for Pittsburgh to address for him to get caught up in playing “remember when” when talking about the Packers.
Rodgers spent a chunk of the pregame catching up with old friends, many of them members of the Green Bay support staff who have remained following his departure.
Yet when he was introduced to a loud and long ovation while wearing Pittsburgh’s garish or inspired (depending on your perspective) throwbacks, Rodgers was all business. All Pittsburgh.
He deftly guided the Steelers to four scoring drives in the first half while building a 16-7 lead. The problem is, three of those drives ended in long field goals by Chris Boswell instead of touchdowns.
“Bos bailed us out on four incredible kicks, but when you’re playing good teams, you need to score touchdowns, and we stalled out in the high red zone,” Rodgers said.
Green Bay righted itself offensively after halftime behind Love — who at one point tied a franchise record by completing 20 straight passes — and Rodgers and the rest of the Steelers couldn’t keep pace.
Pittsburgh’s first five possessions in the second half went punt, field goal, punt, punt, fumble. A wholly unnecessary 15-yard penalty against wide receiver DK Metcalf blunted a late drive before it even started. A fumble by running back Kenny Gainwell set up a Green Bay field goal that effectively put the game out of reach.
“We can’t beat ourselves,” Rodgers said. “I think in the three losses, there’s been times where we’ve had opportunities and we’ve hurt ourselves with turnovers or just negative plays. So we got to cut those out. We got to get on the same page on offense and defense and keep the faith.”
That faith will be tested in the coming weeks. Pittsburgh welcomes AFC South-leading Indianapolis next week before a trip to Los Angeles to face the Chargers. There is plenty to clean up, particularly on a high-priced defense that has looked overmatched for long stretches and has now not produced a turnover in three straight games.
If there is a saving grace for Rodgers, it’s this: there are no longer any more former teams for him to face this season. Seven weeks after his tenure with Pittsburgh began with a four-touchdown masterpiece against the Jets, he watched Love put on a Rodgers-like performance while he and the Steelers sputtered at key times.
Afterward, Rodgers and Love shared a brief embrace at midfield, with Love putting in a request to get a signed jersey from the man who showed him what it means to be a professional quarterback.
And as discouraged as he might have been at the final score, Rodgers also couldn’t help but take notice of his protege, the player who looks and plays at times an awful lot like his mentor.
“He played great,” Rodgers said. “He played fantastic. He’s had a really nice season. He’s been really efficient with the football.”
All sentences that have been used to describe Rodgers at times during his career. Just maybe not on Sunday, when nostalgia gave way to the reality that there is work to be done if Rodgers wants his one-year coda in Pittsburgh to end on a more upbeat note than his time in Green Bay did.