Football
For Aaron Rodgers, plenty of storylines will be at play during the 2025 season. One of those is against one of his former teams in the Green Bay Packers. The Steelers host the Packers on Sunday Night Football in Week 8, with Rodgers playing Green Bay for the first time since leaving. However, Rodgers apparently doesn’t have Oct. 26 circled on his calendar.
“It is just another game,” Rodgers told Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber in an article of playing the Packers. “Obviously, there’s energy around it kind of outside of yourself but it doesn’t make or break your career. It’ll be fun to beat them, for sure, because I would’ve beaten every team, and because you’re trying to win all your games.”
Rodgers mentions beating every team, which would put him in rare company. If he beats the Packers, he’ll be just the fifth quarterback ever to defeat all 32 teams.
Green Bay isn’t the only former team of Rodgers that the Steelers will play this year. In about a week and a half, Pittsburgh opens its season on the road against the New York Jets. That game should have tons of storylines itself. Rodgers and the Jets were not a good marriage, and former Steelers quarterback Justin Fields will be starting for New York.
Yet Rodgers downplayed that matchup as well. His low-key mentality regarding these games is similar to the way he’s approaching the 2025 season in general. Aaron Rodgers’ mindset seems to have clearly shifted compared to his time in New York where he was expected to save the franchise. After tearing his Achilles four plays into that dream, it was never going to happen.
Now he seems to be more at peace in Pittsburgh. At least enough to treat big matchups like these the same as any other game.
“There’s no extra motivation,” Rodgers said. “I think that’s all media narrative. I’m trying to play great every game. You’d love to throw four, five touchdowns every single week.”
The Steelers will hope to come out victorious in each of these games. With the way their schedule sets up, they’ll need to win both as they try to build a cushion. Pittsburgh’s easiest stretch of the season is on the front half, similar to last year. The matchup against New York kicks that slate off, and after the Packers game it turns into arguably the toughest stretch to end the season in the league. Pittsburgh needs to stack wins early, including in Week 8 against the Packers.
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