{"id":527058,"date":"2026-01-19T08:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T08:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/527058\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T08:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T08:31:14","slug":"steelers-open-to-keeping-aaron-rodgers-with-mike-mccarthy-interview-on-tap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/527058\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers open to keeping Aaron Rodgers with Mike McCarthy interview on tap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maybe the Steelers still have a chance of keeping Aaron Rodgers after all \u2014 and perhaps one of the candidates for their coaching vacancy could help with that.<\/p>\n

ESPN reported Sunday<\/a> that the Steelers still \u201cremain open\u201d to bringing Rodgers back for 2026, casting a different outlook than an NFL Network report from Saturday that stated the 42-year-old quarterback\u2019s future with Pittsburgh was \u201cin doubt.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Returning to the Steelers still remains unlikely for Rodgers because of Mike Tomlin stepping down as head coach<\/a> following their loss to the Texans in the wild-card round Monday, according to ESPN, even as players have reportedly expressed a desire for the four-time league MVP to return.<\/p>\n

\"PittsburghAaron Rodgers walks off the field following the Steelers\u2019 game against the Texans on Jan. 12. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Adding to that wrinkle were reports from Sunday about Pittsburgh\u2019s plans to speak with Mike McCarthy \u2014 who coached Rodgers for 12 years in Green Bay \u2014 for its vacancy.<\/p>\n

With the Packers, Rodgers and McCarthy overlapped for 12 seasons, and McCarthy helped his signal-caller develop into a player who won two of his four MVP awards and guided Green Bay to a Super Bowl win to cap the 2010 season.<\/p>\n

But their relationship was also polarizing.<\/p>\n

In 2019, an anonymous Packers player described it to Bleacher Report as \u201ca large cancer in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCarthy was relieved of his duties from the Packers midway through the 2018 season.<\/p>\n

By the time McCarthy made his return to Lambeau Field as the Cowboys\u2019 head coach in 2022, though, Rodgers said that he was \u201cthankful for those years and thankful maybe a little bit more now as the years go by,\u201d according to an ESPN article at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"GreenAaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy are pictured during a November 2018 game. AP<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if Rodgers \u2014 who plans to take time before deciding on his future, according to ESPN \u2014 would be open to a reunion with McCarthy if the Steelers were to hire the 62-year-old and Pittsburgh native, who has gone 174-112-2 across 18 regular seasons as a head coach.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys and McCarthy parted ways after the 2024 season, and he didn\u2019t coach this season.<\/p>\n

Rodgers, though, helped the Steelers win the AFC North before crumbling in the opening round of the postseason. He threw for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions this year.<\/p>\n

It helped him revive his career after a brutal Achilles injury in 2023 and an underwhelming campaign with the Jets in 2024, looking like a shadow of the future Hall of Famer who won four MVP awards altogether in Green Bay \u2014 including another when Matt LaFleur eventually took over.<\/p>\n

But even Steelers owner Art Rooney II admitted that Tomlin\u2019s shocking exit<\/a> \u2014 after 19 years as head coach \u2014 could impact Rodgers\u2019 decision, telling reporters following the season that Rodgers signed with Pittsburgh in the first place because of Tomlin, \u201cSo I think it will most likely affect his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maybe the Steelers still have a chance of keeping Aaron Rodgers after all \u2014 and perhaps one of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":527059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2390,139638,1232,1545,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-527058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-mike-mccarthy","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115920835917957505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}