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The Pittsburgh Steelers are returning quarterback Aaron Rodgers, officially re-signing the 21-year-old veteran Monday morning for a second season in Pittsburgh. The move also revives a familiar partnership with coach Mike McCarthy, marking their first reunion since 2018.
On FOX Sports’ “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd, FOX Sports analyst Geoff Schwartz joined the show to discuss Rodgers’ reunion with McCarthy. Cowherd questioned McCarthy’s support for the move, suggesting he would prefer to roll with the team’s younger quarterbacks.
“I think [Mike] McCarthy publicly takes a bullet because he’d rather go with the kids,” Cowherd said. But he got the job and part of the deal is not to badmouth us when we bring in Aaron. [Rodgers] back.”
Schwartz pointed to previous tensions between Rodgers and McCarthy in Green Bay, where their working relationship ended with McCarthy’s firing in 2018 amid reported friction. He wondered how the Pittsburgh reunion would work given that history.
“Remember, Aaron Rodgers and McCarthy didn’t end well, like he got him fired,” Schwartz said. “Now they’re supposed to be best friends at work again? They’re professionals, but again, I don’t know if you’re a Steelers fan, how you look forward to the season.”
Not only have the Steelers struggled to find a long-term answer at quarterback, but playoff success has also become a concern. The team has largely settled into the 8-9 win range over the past few seasons, reflecting mediocrity.
Pittsburgh’s last playoff victory was in 2017, when it beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round.
“You know exactly how it’s going to go,” Schwartz said. “They haven’t won a playoff game in nine years, but you knew how the back nine was going to go anyway, but this doesn’t sound like any hope.”
Schwartz questioned whether Pittsburgh’s commitment to remaining competitive in the short term was preventing a necessary reset with an aging roster.
“I think if you asked McCarthy, ‘Hey, let’s kind of get rid of the old guys, let’s be young this year and next year we’ll hit it big,’ I think he would rather accept that,” Schwartz said. “But the pride, the organization, at some point, we should say for a year or two that we are going to be bad.”
The Steelers never completely hit the reset button or embarked on a traditional rebuild, but Schwartz cited examples where that approach worked elsewhere.
“There are probably examples of results,” Schwartz said. “The Patriots had Drake Maye, like it works if you do it right. It works if you do it right and Pittsburgh refuses to do it right.”
