The Steelers must have tangible growth with Aaron Rodgers to call this a success, but what about a Super Bowl? On ESPN, analyst Booger McFarland suggested that is what Pittsburgh brought him in for. He likened the move to another rather high-profile quarterback signing not so long ago down in Florida.
“Make no mistake about this: they’re not bringing in Aaron Rodgers here to go 9-8”, he said. “They’re not bringing Aaron Rodgers in there to win one playoff game. When you have Minkah Fitzpatrick and Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt, you’re going to get a 41-year-old quarterback, who’s a Hall-of-Fame quarterback, to see if he can have some similar effect that Tom Brady had in Tampa when he took them to a Super Bowl”.
The Buccaneers acquired Tom Brady in 2020, and by the end of the 2021 season, they were hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The Steelers have not won a Super Bowl since 2008, with Aaron Rodgers partly to blame. They reached the championship game in 2010, but Rodgers’ Packers knocked them off.
Of course, that is the first and only time Aaron Rodgers has won the Super Bowl. In fact, neither Rodgers nor the Steelers have been very successful in the postseason lately. So could the pairing of the two be what they need to get over the hump?
“In the right situation, being protected, and Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator, calling the right plays, and everybody staying healthy, I think this team has an opportunity to get into the postseason, which gives them an opportunity to go where Pittsburgh wants to go”, McFarland said. Later, he also added that he doesn’t believe that even with Rodgers, the Steelers have enough.
But that doesn’t change the reality of the expectations. Rodgers or not, the Steelers always, or so they claim, view their success as a pass/fail based on whether they add a trophy to the case or not. So of course signing Aaron Rodgers is about maximizing their chances of winning the Super Bowl this year.
“That’s the goal. Anything else is gonna be a disappointment”, McFarland said of the ambitions of Rodgers and the Steelers. “And in the right situation, maybe they can just catch lightning in a bottle. But I think he’s got to go out and he’s got to prove it to this new set of teammates”.
Pending a physical, as of this writing, Aaron Rodgers is now officially a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He intends, according to reports, to participate in mandatory minicamp next week. Even without having had a contract, then, he technically didn’t miss anything that wasn’t voluntary.
Still, the fact that he did not sign a contract left those on the outside wondering—on both sides. Does Aaron Rodgers even want to play, and what do the Steelers know about his intentions? Finally, at long last, it doesn’t matter anymore. At least, I don’t think it will, but this being Aaron Rodgers, you never know what enigma might pop up.
