The best way to limit Aaron Rodgers now is pressure. He no longer has elite escapability, and his decision-making under duress has been shaky—just look at last week’s interception against New England with pressure in his face. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they could see plenty of that Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
One analyst worries that Rodgers is due to take a bunch of hits against DC Brian Flores’ attacking defense.
“The offense has been really bad. Can’t run the ball in between the 20s, ineffective. And so I worry about the Steelers’ offense against this Vikings defense. I think this could be a five-sack game,” Sam Monson said via The 33rd Team’s Check The Mic podcast.
The Steelers gave up zero sacks in Week 3 against the top sack unit in the league this season, but that was mostly because of their approach to the passing game. Rodgers has been one of the quickest at getting rid of the ball this season, and they could afford to do that against the Patriots with an early 14-0 lead.
Things could get ugly in a hurry if the Steelers are forced to play catch-up.
“The Vikings are one of the best teams in the NFL in terms of generating pressure, and they can attack you at both ends. They get a ton of pressure up front,” Monson said. “You don’t know whether they’re coming with just four rushers, five, six, you don’t know what the blitz is gonna look like.”
Even a veteran quarterback like Rodgers, who has seen it all throughout his 21 years in the league, will struggle with the exotic blitz packages and various looks in the secondary that Flores employs. He played against the Vikings in 2024, and it didn’t go so well.
Last season, Rodgers completed 29 of his 54 attempts for 244 yards, two TDs and 3 INTs. He was sacked just three times but took 11 total QB hits with constant pressure in his face. You can safely bet the Vikings will use a similar game plan against him a year later given the success it had.
Unless the offensive line suddenly gets its act together after three weeks of poor play, this is going to come down to a defensive battle. The only way to protect Rodgers is to keep the score down and keep the run game available to the Steelers.
