It’s not unusual to see an NFL coach or quarterback face a former team at some point. It is unusual to see a Super Bowl-winning combo of both go against their former franchise together. In fact, it’s never happened in league history.
Until now. Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers will hold that peculiar meeting — albeit in a game without regular season stakes — in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason opener Aug. 13 at Acrisure Stadium as the Green Bay Packers come to town.
Granted, we likely will not actually see much of Rodgers, who dismissed exhibitions as “not real football” in his comments to reporters at training camp Aug. 11. Still, he’ll look across the field and see another former coach in Matt LaFleur and plenty of other faces that are familiar
to both men.
“Our history there is obviously long,” McCarthy said when asked about facing the Packers with Rodgers. “You think about, obviously, having personal and professional connections to Green Bay. That’s part of my life. But I’m more worried about our pre-snap penalties right now, to be honest with you.”
Rodgers was first to arrive in Green Bay in 2005 as the team’s first-round NFL draft pick. McCarthy was hired to coach him the following year. By the end of the 2010 season, they reached the Super Bowl together and, ironically enough, triumphed over QB Ben Roethlisberger, coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers in that game. It was the Packers’ most recent championship.
Rodgers won a pair of MVPs under McCarthy’s tutelage before the coach was fired at the end of the 2018 season. He then won two more MVPs before leaving Green Bay himself at the end of 2022.
Both have faced their former team separately since. McCarthy met the Packers as Dallas Cowboys head coach in the 2022 regular season, then lost a wild-card playoff game against them at the end of the 2023 season.
Rodgers faced the Packers with the Steelers last season, dropping a 35-25 decision in Pittsburgh against successor Jordan Love.
"I don't have any animosity toward the organization," Rodgers told reporters at the time. "Obviously I wish that things had been better in our last year there, but I have a great relationship with a lot of people still in that organization. This is not a revenge game for me. I'm just excited to see some of those guys and be on ‘Sunday Night Football’ again.
"I grew up there. I spent 18 years there from 21 to 39, so I'm thankful for my time there. Obviously would've loved to ride off in the sunset after a Super Bowl win, but that's not the way the league goes sometimes. I knew the writing was on the wall when Jordan was picked. ... I knew at some point there would be a change, and if I wanted to play, it'd probably have to be elsewhere. So I understand the situation."
The stakes are admittedly low as an exhibition. And the reunion would likely carry more weight for both if it was coming at Lambeau Field instead of in Pittsburgh.
The subplot is nevertheless intriguing as a quirk of history and circumstance.
McCarthy is a Pittsburgh native. He grew up in the city’s Greenfield neighborhood, and his coaching staff in Green Bay included numerous other Western Pennsylvania products.
Rodgers has spoken about how that influence and familiarity contributed in leading him toward Tomlin and the Steelers following a disappointing stint with the New York Jets from 2023-24.
“I feel like Pittsburgh has been a part of my career from the beginning,” he said upon signing with the team last season. “Playing for Mike McCarthy for 13 years. Having Tom Clements as my quarterbacks coach forever. Dom Capers, Kevin Greene, Darren Perry, Ben McAdoo, Frank Cignetti, Luke Getsy. I don’t want to forget anybody, but a lot of yinzers* in my life.”
Tomlin stepped away from coaching after last season, setting the stage for McCarthy to make a homecoming as his replacement. Rodgers pondered retirement as his 43rd birthday looms in December, but eventually found a reunion with McCarthy too interesting to pass up. He re-upped with the Steelers in time for OTAs earlier this spring.
Editor's note: (“Yinzers” is a slang term for Pittsburgh-area natives, deriving from “yinz,” which means “you all” within the regional dialect.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Steelers' Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers prepare for unique matchup with ex-team Packers
