Few rookie quarterbacks have enjoyed the kind of immediate success that Ben Roethlisberger did in 2004, after being selected 11th overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers out of Miami (Ohio). Thrust into the starting role early in the season, Roethlisberger went a perfect 13-0 as a starter, leading Pittsburgh to a dominant regular season and earning Offensive Rookie of the Year honors for his stellar debut campaign.
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He then went on to win two Super Bowls for Pittsburgh, one in 2006 and one in 2009. But what could the Steelers’ Super Bowl record have looked like had the Steelers passed on Big Ben in 2004 to bring on Aaron Rodgers in 2005?
That is the hypothetical that the hosts of AllSteelersTalk wanted to play out as Rodgers gears up to be the Steelers’ new quarterback in 2025: Would Rodgers have won more Super Bowls for Pittsburgh than Big Ben did?
“He won only one Super Bowl with the Packers, so I think it’s more likely that they would’ve won less than what they have in that time. Not that I think Aaron Rodgers would’ve been incapable of winning more, but I have no proof of that, so I think it’s more likely he would’ve been less than two,” answered Jacob Punturi.
Coincidentally, the one Super Bowl Rodgers won was against the Steelers, led by Roethlisberger.
Of course, this hypothetical doesn’t take into account the many factors that go into winning Super Bowls. How would Rodgers fit in the Steelers’ system? Would he have been the same quarterback without sitting behind Brett Favre for three seasons?
Interestingly, the Steelers did have their eye on Rodgers in the 2005 draft.
During an appearance on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh, former Steelers pro personnel director Doug Whaley revealed that the team was closely monitoring Aaron Rodgers’ slide down the draft board in the first round.
“We wouldn’t have had to [trade up]. We had him graded higher than where he was falling. We were surprised he kept slipping.”
In the end, though, they ended up not picking Rodgers, instead bolstering their O-line with tight end Heath Miller at No. 30. Miller went on to a career that included two Pro Bowls (2009, 2012) and two Super Bowls. He also owns every conceivable tight end franchise record for the Steelers.
Meanwhile, Rodgers had his own Hall of Fame-worthy career in Green Bay.
Throughout the past 20 years, Rodgers has competed in 248 NFL contests. Meanwhile, Roethlisberger participated in 249 games during his 18-year career. So long as Rodgers can avoid an incident like the one that plagued his debut as a New York Jet, he’ll officially pass up the Pittsburgh legend with a start in both Week 1 and Week 2 of the 2025 regular season.
And if he tries hard enough, maybe he can even catch up to Big Ben’s Super Bowl record and win another one for Pittsburgh.
We’ll never know how Aaron Rodgers would have fared in Pittsburgh—as a rookie or over the course of his career—but in 2025, we’ll finally see how he performs in black and gold, four years after Ben Roethlisberger retired.
