Just a few months ago, when we were still firmly in the midst of the off-season, the Pittsburgh Steelers found themselves desperately searching for a quarterback who was capable of helping them avoid going a decade without a playoff win. Conveniently enough, Aaron Rodgers was equally looking for a franchise that had the potential to make the most of his final days in the NFL.
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Their union seemed to be a match made in win-now heaven, but now here we are, eleven weeks into the 2025 regular season, and the Steelers seemed to be defaulting right back to their middling ways. After claiming a 4-1 start to the year, Rodgers and co. are now left with a 5-4 record following their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10, but according to the man himself, those recent struggles are to be put on him, rather than Mike Tomlin or anyone else.
“I got to play better than this,” the 21-year veteran snapped after only managing to score 10 total points against Herbert and co. “Whatever it takes… If it’s better checks, if it’s better throws, whatever it is, I got to play better. I will…We got to play better on offense, for sure. But this is part of the season. There’s ebbs and flows, there’s ups and downs, and we can’t ride the wave.”
Thankfully, for both Rodgers and the rest of the roster, losing three out of the last four games doesn’t seem to have caused any finger pointing just yet, as Tomlin has been equally supportive of Rodgers in the press all throughout Week 11’s build up. After hearing that the four-time MVP winner was attempting to shoulder the blame for the team’s recent struggles, Tomlin suggested that he wasn’t “surprised” by that, “but certainly, football is the ultimate team game.”
The veteran head coach suggested that their Week 10 outing was a “collective failure,” one that even he was partially responsible for. Of course, they don’t plan on making the same mistakes twice, as the Cincinnati Bengals are offering them a huge opportunity right now.
“Quite frankly, we expect Cincinnati to do similar things. As a matter of fact, Cincinnati did similar things on third down, last time we played them, as the Chargers did against. We just did not have a good day from a plan and execution perspective… I think we’re finding our footing… We’ve given up less big plays and we’re playing better defense because of it.”
Splitting wins with Joe Flacco may not sound too great on paper, but it would still give Pittsburgh the chance to maintain its grip on the AFC North, and with a little help from the Cleveland Browns, they could very well go to bed on Sunday night with a two-game lead on the Baltimore Ravens. Securing a divisional title, their first since 2020, would go a long way in helping the Steelers find their first playoff win of the decade.
The Los Angeles Rams’ match up with the Seattle Seahawks may be getting all of the excitement right now, but don’t sleep on this one either, as it has just as good of a chance of being the best divisional battle of the week.
