How Steelers forged Rodgers-Tomlin connection

PITTSBURGH -- As Steelers staffers scurried to distribute AFC North championship hats and T-shirts and cameramen flooded the field, Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin found each other on the turf at Acrisure Stadium.

Encircled by boom mics and clicking cameras, Tomlin extended a hand to his quarterback, pulled him in for a hug and told him he loved him.

"Thanks for bringing me here," Rodgers told his head coach.

"Are you kidding me?" Tomlin responded. "Thank you for coming."

This was the manifestation of the vision Tomlin, 53, saw when he pursued Rodgers 10 months ago, that the 42-year-old quarterback still had it -- the knowledge, the arm, the swagger -- to lead the Steelers to the postseason. And with a vintage fourth-quarter performance -- and, of course, with the help of a missed Baltimore Ravens field goal -- that's just what Rodgers did.

Tomlin has been searching for the franchise's next quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger's 2022 retirement, sifting through the silt of the NFL draft and free agency for that priceless addition. Each time, though, the glimmers of hope turned out to be fool's gold.

But in Rodgers, Tomlin found an unlikely kindred spirit, a quarterback who still had the drive to be great and the physical ability and aptitude to make it happen -- at least for a year. Thanks to that relationship, the Steelers rallied from a 6-6 midseason slump to reach the playoffs and will host the Houston Texans on Monday night (8:20 ET, ESPN) in Pittsburgh's first home playoff game since the 2020 season.

"I think we got to be connected," Tomlin said Tuesday about the importance of the coach-quarterback relationship. "There's a loneliness with leadership. There's a responsibility with leadership. And so I've just learned over the years to embrace that component of it, that we got to spend time together. We got to have an understanding.

"... It's been really fun because he has an appetite for it. He loves the process as much as he loves competing. He's got an awesome relationship with football. He's at the point in his career where he's really reflective and excited about giving back to the game and the young people in the game. And so it's fun to do that with him."

Rodgers is having fun, too. He threw 24 touchdowns to seven interceptions and had his highest completion percentage (65.7%) since 2021. Success looked different for Rodgers this season as he averaged a career-low 5.9 air yards per attempt.

Through Week 13, Rodgers completed just 7 of 28 attempts (25%) with two touchdowns and two interceptions on passes of at least 20 yards downfield. But his deep passing picked up in the final four weeks of the season as he completed 9 of 20 attempts (45%) with three touchdowns on such passes.

As Rodgers continues to surge, he's finding motivation in winning for his head coach, endeared to him in part because of their similar experiences.

"We love Mike T, and Mike T has had an incredible career as a head coach to go that long and never have a losing season. It's unbelievable," Rodgers said this week, dismissing external criticism of the head coach that spiked after the Week 13 loss to the Bills.

"There's always going to be something. When I was a young player, they said I couldn't be considered elite until I won a playoff game. After that, it was until you win a Super Bowl, and oh, you haven't won MVP yet. And whatever they might be for Mike T, he's at what, 19 straight non-losing seasons, so they got to find something to try and get after him.

"Mike T's probably like me, though, doesn't give a whole lot of s--- about any of those comments, but it's nice, we all love him and want to play for him. We want to win for him."

Outside the building, there were concerns about Rodgers' larger-than-life persona coexisting with Tomlin's all-encompassing standard-setting culture. But instead of a power struggle, there was symbiosis, two alphas united by a common goal of eliminating outside noise and making an improbable run.

"It's chaos, disbelief, gratitude, a lot of emotions," Rodgers said Sunday night, describing the moment Tyler Loop's field goal sailed wide right. "I'm just really, really thankful. And that's what I told [owner and president Art Rooney II] and [assistant general manager Andy Weidl] and [general manager Omar Khan], just to be able to get brought in here and be a part of this team, and just the way I bonded with the guys and the way they've put their arms around me and allowed me to be myself and listen to me and let me lead and inspire me the way they have. It's a good group of guys."

Through his nearly two decades at the helm of the Steelers, Tomlin has earned a reputation of being a players' coach for his transparency with the locker room and his willingness to let players be themselves. Though the latter hasn't always returned positive results, that trait was a significant component of Rodgers' decision to play in Pittsburgh.

"I just think if you're going to get the best out of someone, particularly someone that's in a leadership position, they got to do it in a natural way, in their voice," Tomlin said. "You're cutting their leadership legs out from under them when you're asking them to be somebody they're not or to not do things in a real natural and organic sort of way. And so I think it's negligent to ask him to be anything other than himself."

That's just what Rodgers has been since he arrived in Pittsburgh in June. Not only did he sign the one-year, $13.65 million contract on his own timeline, arriving just before mandatory minicamp, but he also brought his idiosyncrasies with him -- and the team embraced all of it.

Rodgers started the bonding process with his pass catchers before he even signed, working out with DK Metcalf in Los Angeles in late March. Once he became a Pittsburgh Steeler, Rodgers hosted a group of offensive players in Malibu, California, for several days, taking them to dine at Nobu, shoot hoops with Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant at his exclusive gym and work out on a palm-tree-ringed field.

One of the first to build a close relationship with the quarterback was Ben Skowronek, a wide receiver entering his second year with the team. The pair bonded over their affinity for wired headphones and glass-bottled Mountain Valley Spring Water, and at Nobu, Rodgers introduced him to affogato, a dessert with espresso poured over vanilla gelato.

"He was like, you got to try this, and I tried it," Skowronek said. "Unbelievable. Then when I went back to Arizona to finish off my offseason, I went out to dinner with my wife, and I was like, we got to try affogato. ... We have a lot in common with lifestyle stuff."

Back in Pittsburgh, Rodgers has hosted Tuesday film studies at his home. On Dec. 2, the meeting fell on Rodgers' birthday. Skowronek brought the cake.

Rodgers also built a quick rapport with others in the locker room, too. His teammates soon learned Rodgers was as comfortable taking a joke as he was making one.

"He's old," defensive captain Cameron Heyward said, deadpanning when he was asked in November what he has learned about Rodgers. "I think he's always been about the team and whatever's misconstrued outside of there, it's been fun to really just get to know him.

"He's been bought in since he's gotten here, but we joke off the field. But we do challenge each other and try to make sure we have the right pulse of the team, and I think it's just about communicating and making sure we can go forward."

Heyward was vocally skeptical about Rodgers before he signed in Pittsburgh, saying on his podcast during Rodgers' prolonged decision-making process, "either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't."

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But after hugging his head coach Sunday night, Rodgers turned around and found Heyward waiting on him.

"Thank you," Heyward told Rodgers as the quarterback pulled the defensive tackle in for a bear hug.

In Rodgers, the Steelers found a veteran leader for the offense, one capable of threading the needle between being relatable and demanding, urgent but relaxed, and assertive yet collaborative.

"He's just such a leader and just such a commander," Steelers left tackle Dylan Cook said. "You never see him freaking out, so it's easy to play when your leader is relaxed at all times."

Rodgers doesn't solve the Steelers' long-term quarterback conundrum. He might not even solve it beyond the next month, though recently the 42-year-old acknowledged he hasn't yet made a determination on the 2026 season.

But he has done exactly what the Steelers needed -- and hoped -- he would do this season. He stabilized the offense and kept the locker room even-keeled.

Already three-point home underdogs to the Texans, the Steelers' ride could come to an end Monday night. Or it could charge ahead with Rodgers leading the fight.

"It's a clean slate now," Rodgers said. "Anybody can make a run. It's the hottest team. We've won four out of five. We're playing a lot better football than we were earlier in the season. I like our chances."