Aaron Rodgers is done after this one. He said it at Steelers OTAs, he repeated it at training camp, and the phrasing has not wavered: “This is it.”
He is 42, the oldest player in the NFL, and 2026 is his 22nd season. Last year he hedged, saying he was “pretty sure” 2025 would be the end. There is no hedge this time.
The reason he came back at all was Mike McCarthy. Pittsburgh hired the coach who ran Rodgers’ first 13 seasons in Green Bay, and that plus a one-year deal worth up to $25 million was enough to get him on a field again.
Week 1 went fine, and DK Metcalf did not
Pittsburgh beat Atlanta 20-13 in the opener. Rodgers went 24 of 40 for 221 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, and PFF graded him first among all quarterbacks that week at 85.7. Nobody graded that out of respect for his age. He played well.
Metcalf was the problem. Ten targets, four catches, 40 receiving yards, drops, and a pair of offensive pass interference flags, one of which erased a 19-yard catch and run. Joe Haden and James Harrison both took public shots at him. Fans were louder.
Rodgers did not pile on. “I’m not worried about DK at all, man,” he said. “I love DK. He’s one of my closest friends on the team, and I’m going to keep feeding him.”
That is the correct answer and also the only available answer, given that Rodgers named Metcalf as a big reason he signed in Pittsburgh in the first place.
What comes after football for Rodgers
He has been unusually direct about it. Rodgers told The Washington Post at camp that his next chapter is fatherhood, and that he hopes to be supporting a pregnant wife by this time next year. To be clear, Brittani is not pregnant now. He was describing a plan, not making an announcement.
He also wants to heal his body and step back from public life, which for a man who spent two decades as one of the most scrutinized athletes in America sounds less like a retirement plan and more like relief.
How this season actually ends
Here is the stance: Pittsburgh makes the playoffs and loses in the wild card round.
The defense looked like the best unit on the field in Week 1, and that is the version of this team capable of stealing 10 or 11 wins. Rodgers at 42 can still run an offense that does not ask him to create from nothing, and McCarthy knows exactly how to build that offense because he built it once already.
What Pittsburgh does not have is a passing game that can win a shootout in January. Metcalf’s opener was ugly, and even at his best he is a one-man solution to a problem that requires more than one man. The Steelers will grind out wins and be unpleasant to play, and then they will run into a team that scores 30 without thinking about it.
That ending is not a tragedy. Rodgers gets a competent, competitive final season alongside the coach he trusts most, which is more than most 42-year-old quarterbacks ever get. Week 2 is at home against the Patriots. The farewell tour is real, and it starts in front of a crowd that will actually show up for it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.