This was hard to watch. The Pittsburgh Steelers' offense was bailed out with six takeaways against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9. But versus the LA Chargers in Week 10 on Sunday Night Football, there was nowhere for the offense to hide. Unfortunately, Aaron Rodgers was the biggest culprit.
In the first half, Rodgers made one mistake after the next. The 41-year-old quarterback threw a screen pass at Jaylen Warren's ankles, overthrew DK Metcalf for a would-be touchdown deep down the field, took a bone-headed sack-safety after holding the ball too long, underthrew Calvin Austin, overthrew Jonnu Smith, ran out of a clean pocket to take a sack, and overthrew Metcalf for an interception.
This sequence of plays was brutal to watch.
Rodgers' struggles led the Steelers' offense to pitiful numbers entering the tunnel. In the first half, Pittsburgh mustered up just 85 yards while going 0-6 on third downs. This included just three first downs and a mere 3.4 yards per play.
Unfortunately, things didn't get much better for Rodgers in the second half. By the end of the third quarter, Rodgers led the Steelers to just five total first downs while completing eight passes for just 3.0 yards per drop-back. Pittsburgh had just three points on the board until a late score in garbage time ultimately made it a 25-10 loss for the Steelers.
Aaron Rodgers is quickly becoming a problem for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Though Rodgers was able to pad his stats late in the game, the future Hall of Famer won't escape criticism for this one. Saying he was 'bad' against the Chargers doesn't cut it. Aaron Rodgers was downright awful.
The soon-to-be 42-year-old quarterback completed 16 of 31 passes for just 161 yards (5.2 yards per attempt) with one touchdown and two interceptions. Of course, his lone touchdown came in garbage time late in the fourth quarter in an effort to salvage what was arguably the worst game of his NFL career. Even with the cheap 65 yards and a TD on the final drive, Rodgers was pathetic.
Sadly, this is becoming a trend as we cross the halfway point of the 2025 season.
In four straight games now, we have witnessed Rodgers' passing yards dip drastically, from 249 to 219 to 203 to 169. Rodgers' touchdowns have also gone down significantly during the same stretch (4,2,1,1), as did his yards per attempt per game and passer rating.
Aaron Rodgers' stats have plummeted in his last four games:
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) November 10, 2025
Week 7: 249 yards, 7.3 y/a, 4 TD, 103.7 PR
Week 8: 219 yards, 6.1 y/a, 2 TD, 101.5 PR
Week 9: 203 yards, 5.8 y/a, 1 TD, 95.3 PR
Week 10: 161 yards, 5.2 y/a, 1 TD, 50.6 PR
Rodgers looks his age. #Steelers
If this were just a bad performance or two, we could shake it off and act like it never happened. But we can no longer do that. While Mike Tomlin's conservative philosophy and Arthur Smith's game plan don't help, Rodgers is capping the upside of this Steelers offense.
The aging quarterback has not exceeded 250 passing yards in a single game this season, while routinely getting rid of the ball quickly and frequently opting for check-down routes in the flats. It's his easy difficulty of assignment that made him just PFF's 24th-ranked quarterback entering Sunday Night Football.
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When we hear whispers that the Steelers hope to retain Rodgers for the 2026 season, they need to be careful what they wish for. It was around this time last season that fans and analysts were still praising Russell Wilson for his mid-season performance before his utter collapse late in the year. And Rodgers may already be spiraling out of control.
We don't want to make the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback situation seem all doom-and-gloom after a big primetime loss to the LA Chargers on SNF, but it's hard to point the finger at any player besides the quarterback. The harsh reality is that the Steelers already have an Aaron Rodgers problem that might only get worse from here.