Earlier this offseason, when the Steelers fans held their breath, waiting for an Aaron Rodgers move, Mike Tomlin said… nothing. No promises. No pitch. Just stillness and the head coach emphasizing that the discussion was still going on. But analysts out there filled the void. Could Rodgers bend to Pittsburgh’s run-heavy script? Was he the one to snap the playoff drought? Doubts swirled like Pittsburgh fog. Could Rodgers sync with Arthur Smith’s methodical rhythm?

The Steelers’ legend, Ryan Clark, wasn’t shy either. He called it a “garbage season” waiting to happen and casting Rodgers as Scar from The Lion King. Dramatic? Sure. Dismissive? Absolutely. And through it all, Tomlin never flinched. No selling. No chasing. Just an HC confident in a 41-year-old quarterback. Fast forward to now, and Rodgers is in the Steel City, and he just added another layer to how Tomlin convinced him to join the Steelers.

Rodgers recently sat down with Kyle Brandt of NFL Network at St. Vincent College. When Brandt asked what Tomlin said and how he convinced him to join the Steelers, Rodgers responded honestly. “It was honestly more about what he wasn’t saying,” the Steelers’ quarterback said. “At no point during the conversations, which were weekly — at least — did I ever feel like I was talking to a coach who needed something from me. (Like) ‘I need you to give me this, give me that, give me an answer.’ It was like you were talking to an old friend.”

“At my age, at my experience, I just really appreciated that. I respected how he talked to me, our conversation, getting to know him and hearing about his schedule and who’s important in his life. And him asking me and remembering important things about my life, too. It really made an impression to me. I never once felt like I was talking to a coach who might have been talking to me, you know, small talk, but was really wanting to be like, hey, when are you coming in?… So I just appreciated that.”

The 41-year-old quarterback observed that instead of bombarding his quarterback with an endless question book of schemes, systems, and tricks, Tomlin preferred to take a personal approach. And the logic tracks. The Steelers will enter the 2025 season with a run-heavy offense, sure. And Rodgers is well-known as a quick passer. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the OC has confirmed that they didn’t bring Rodgers for an old-school wishbone.

In fact, Arthur Smith emphasized the desire to “play to the strengths of your team,” signaling that the offense will evolve into a more balanced, less predictable ground-bound system. On the flip side, Rodgers had already made it clear on The Pat McAfee Show—he wasn’t rushing into anything. He said he was focused on life off the field for a bit. So yeah, Tomlin having a weekly conversation with Rodgers about life just makes sense.

“I just wanna get to know him legitimately and, for me, a component of that is understanding the why,” Tomlin recently said, shedding light on what it’s like to coach one of the best QBs in the league. “I think I can better coach him and get to know him in a real way, and we can both be what this team needs us to be if we pursue it in that manner.” That said, the Tomlin-Rodgers duo will get praise if things work out well in the season. But expect some side-eyes as well if things go south. Too much is at stake.

Meanwhile, the Steelers quarterback wants to know one of the Steelers’ legends on a deeper level.

Aaron Rodgers wants to know Terry Bradshaw

The Steelers’ pursuit of Aaron Rodgers turned more heads than it drew cheers. And Terry Bradshaw was one of the many people who weren’t on board with Rodgers joining the Steelers. He ripped the 41-year-old quarterback apart and called the Steelers’ interest in Rodgers “a joke.” “What are you going to do? Bring him in for one year, are you kidding me? That guy needs to stay in California,” Terry said back in May. “Go somewhere and chew on bark and whisper to the gods out there.”

Cut to the present, and it’s Rodgers who’s walking us back through that moment. During an interview with the NFL Network, Rodgers responded to Terry’s comments. “Terry’s a legend. He’s an absolute legend. He won four Super Bowls. He’s had a legendary career in the media,” he said. “But Terry, like a lot of people, doesn’t know me. So, he’s got an idea of what he thinks about me based on what I’ve done, the documentary, what I’ve said, darkness retreat, whatever the hell you want to talk about.”

Terry knows a thing or two about the Steelers. Winning four Super Bowls for Pittsburgh is no small feat. So, when his former team was in pursuit of a QB, who’s great, sure, but has shown signs of decline, Terry didn’t hold back. But Rodgers took a different approach and came up with a solution.

“I’d love to get to know Terry on a deeper level,” he added, “and I feel like if he gave me a chance to get to know him then we’d have a good friendship because for me I have nothing but the utmost amount of respect and deference for what the greats have done because they laid the foundation for us to be able to play in this great game… Maybe we can go chew some bark or whatever the hell he’s talking about together.”

That said, things could shift from here between the Steelers quarterback and the Steelers’ legend if Rodgers ends Pittsburgh’s postseason drought. Who knows—come February, we might see Rodgers and Bradshaw swapping stories over some bark.