The time has come. The Bears have one last shot. The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming to town, and so is Aaron Rodgers. Will he play? He was limited in Thursday’s practice, and there’s certainly a chance that he could play this Sunday against the Bears. Will Aaron Rodgers play, and can the Bears beat him in what is almost certainly the last time he will face the Bears?
To get you set for this Sunday’s matchup, we sat down with Ryland Bickley from Behind the Steel Curtain (SB Nation’s Pittsburgh Steelers
site) to get the Pittsburgh perspective on this game.
1. Let’s start with Aaron Rodgers. I know he’s probably going to be a game-time decision this week. But I’m curious, do Steelers fans understand what this game means for Bears fans? You guys have been brought into a rivalry between one player and an entire city. I’m curious if fans have been outside this noise to understand what the situation is between Rodgers vs Chicago. Also, I know Pittsburgh has had a lot more success than Chicago over the last 15 years or so, but is there a player that Pittsburgh fans dislike like Chicago fans and Rodgers?
While I highly doubt it’s to the level of Bears and Packers fans, I’d say the Steeler fanbase is well aware of Rodgers’ 24-5 career record against Chicago — and, of course, the infamous “I still own you” touchdown celebration. Those points have been brought up numerous times at Behind the Steel Curtain this week as our commenters debate whether Rodgers or backup Mason Rudolph should start on Sunday.
I’ll add a similar statistic that has also been thrown around a lot this week: The Steelers are 1-12 all-time playing in Chicago. So if Rodgers does go on Sunday, it’ll be an unstoppable force vs. immovable object situation when it comes to historical trends.
As for the last part of your question, the Steelers’ rivalry games over the years have yielded plenty of hated figures on other teams. I’m on the younger side as a Steelers writer, but plenty still come to mind from my own memory: Tom Brady seeming to be the lone force preventing the “Killer B’s” era Steelers from making a Super Bowl, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict delivering a brutal hit on Antonio Brown that was later repaid by JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Myles Garrett and the Mason Rudolph helmet situation (the T.J. Watt/Garrett debate has only made things worse).
And as of this week, I’d say Ja’Marr Chase is starting to work his way onto the list as well. He and the Steeler secondary have gone back and forth over the last few seasons, and Week 11’s spitting incident only raised the stakes.
2. How has Aaron Rodgers done this year? It seems like he’s playing better than he did with the Jets, but at his age, he certainly seems to be far more limited than he was a couple of years ago.
Overall, he’s definitely looked better this year than he time with the Jets. The last two weeks, however, have been especially rough. I’m not sure how much of it is the long season starting to take a toll on the 41-year-old, or if it’s more matchup-based or mental factors, but he has slowly regressed from a solid distributor to an actual weakness of the offense at times.
Rodgers’ accuracy, especially on throws over 10 yards downfield, has been scattershot as of late. And his pocket presence, which was skittish to start the season, has only gotten worse with time.
The Pittsburgh offensive line has been better than expected in pass protection this year, but Rodgers has repeatedly bailed from clean pockets and looked hesitant stepping up to make big throws. And if he plays hurt on Sunday, I don’t see the problem getting any better.
Even when he was playing well, Rodgers had one of the fastest times to throw in football. In a mix of the Steelers’ game plans and Rodgers’ own limitations and preferences, Pittsburgh has struggled to push the ball downfield this year.
Still, Rodgers still has plenty of arm strength and the accuracy to zip the football into tight windows on shorter throws. His experience and ability to change plays and diagnose at the line of scrimmage have also been good additions to the Pittsburgh offense.
If you had asked me what I thought of Rodgers a few weeks ago, my answer would’ve been a lot more positive. His regression has been one of the biggest standouts of the Steelers’ recent games. It’ll be interesting to see if it lasts.
3. I think the Mike Tomlin situation in Pittsburgh is fascinating. I think he’s an excellent coach, and I think he should be applauded for the number of times he’s won 9 or 10 games with just pure slop at the quarterback position. Could this be Tomlin’s last season in Pittsburgh, and what is your personal stance on him as the Steelers’ head coach?
For the same reasons, I’m still probably more pro-Tomlin than the average Steeler fan. While much of the AFC playoff field his teams have competed with in recent years have had the quarterback situation figured out, Tomlin continues to drag rosters led by names such as Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, and Duck Hodges to the postseason. Tomlin always finds a way to raise the floor of his team.
But the flip side is that the Steelers haven’t done anything in the playoffs recently. They haven’t won a postseason game since the 2016-17 season, and in every game since, they’ve been blown out, upset, or both. While Tomlin’s teams often find a way to punch above their weight class early, they routinely find a way to end seasons on a bad note.
Plus, Tomlin has struggled to get on the cutting edge of staff hires. The team was on a tough stretch of offensive coordinators before Arthur Smith, and current defensive coordinator Teryl Austin hasn’t always done the best job utilizing the talent at his disposal.
But will this be Tomlin’s last season in Pittsburgh? Almost certainly not. The team’s ownership doesn’t like to fire coaches, and Tomlin signed a contract that employs him through 2027 in 2024.
Playoff success matters – you’d hope – but Pittsburgh keeps winning in the regular season, and the Steelers tend to be loyal to their coaches. I do think Tomlin’s seat will heat up if time goes on without a playoff win, but he’s still very safe in my opinion.
4. The Steelers are known for their defense, and they have plenty of names on the defense with star power, but the defense doesn’t look like it’s playing as well as it has in years past. What’s been the issue with the defense this year?
The issue has been largely twofold.
On one hand, some of those big-name stars just aren’t the players they used to be. T.J. Watt is still a productive, impactful player, but not to the extent he was three years ago. Jalen Ramsey, now playing safety, is still a high-level player but no longer a true lockdown cornerback. And Darius Slay has been playing at near-benchable levels when healthy this season.
It’s still a talented defense. But most of the biggest stars are outside of their primes in the present.
The other issue has to do with the scheme, but it has improved in recent weeks.
The Steelers blitzed too much and over-relied on easy-to-read coverage looks, mainly cover-3 and -1, to start the season. However, Pittsburgh’s past few games have included more split-safety coverages that have helped mitigate the quick passing game that was hurting the team earlier in the season.
That, along with some other wrinkles, has helped Pittsburgh put up good performances against dangerous offenses such as the Colts, Chargers, and Bengals in their last three games.
5. How do you think this one plays out? Does the outcome depend on whether Aaron Rodgers or Mason Rudolph plays, or do you think the outcome is similar regardless of who plays quarterback for the Steelers?
Assuming Rodgers’ wrist will still be bothering him if he plays, I’d rather see Rudolph start on Sunday, to be honest. But Rudolph has his own limitations as a passer, so it doesn’t change my expectations much.
On a side tangent, though, this Steelers team has been incredibly difficult to predict this season. In some games, the defense shows up, but the offense doesn’t. Vice versa on other weeks.
On the road against a surging Bears team, I think this one ends with a 25-23 Chicago win.
