Coaches don’t just get fired in Pittsburgh. That’s not how the Steelers do things. They have always relied on stability and tradition. But Aaron Rodgers? He’s been chaotic in cleats lately. Just ask Robert Saleh. Last year, five games into the season (2-3 record), the Jets gave their head coach a one-way ticket out – after Rodgers threw for 7 TDs and 4 INTs in that time. The Jets lost six of their first eight. AR couldn’t carry. And when the season ended, they didn’t give him a press conference, a parade, or even a proper handshake. Just a quiet nudge out the door. Not even that: Aaron Glenn called him for an in-person 20-second goodbye conversation.

So here he is now, 41 years old, rocking black and gold. Still trying to outrun the noise. But so far in training camp, it’s felt like déjà vu. Same script. Different colors. The seven-shot drill – Mike Tomlin’s measuring stick for offensive rhythm – has been a disaster for Rodgers and the starters. Until now.

Finally, a heartbeat. Finally, a break in the clouds. On Day 12 of Steelers training camp, Rodgers led the first-team offense to a 4-3 win in seven shots. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the first sign of life from a unit that’s been sleepwalking through drills. Score tied at 3-3. Starters checked back in. Aaron Rodgers, standing in shotgun with Kenneth Gainwell beside him, scanned the field. He hit DK Metcalf on a clean route to the right corner. Touchdown, whistle, and finally, the offense wins one.

This wasn’t some garbage-time fluke. Rodgers opened the drill with a scoring strike to Metcalf, and he ended it the same way. In between, it was still rocky – one low throw to Darnell Washington, one batted pass by rookie Yahya Black. But the key here? The command. Rodgers looked like he owned the huddle again. He made pre-snap adjustments and moved the pocket. He looked less like a 41-year-old trying to make a highlight and more like a quarterback running the show.

And that win came after days of heat. Reports circulated of his struggles, with whispers growing louder about his timing, his chemistry, and his decision-making. With Will Howard out and reps tightening, the pressure’s been real. Even Metcalf, despite the connection today, hadn’t been the big-play threat the team envisioned in earlier drills. But this session was the first time everything clicked – if only for a few plays. It was also a timely reminder: Rodgers doesn’t need to be the MVP. He just needs to keep this thing afloat while the offense finds its legs. But if you needed a sign that things were getting tense behind the scenes, cue Ben Roethlisberger. 

Big Ben weighs in: Aaron Rodgers needs to “find a way to win”

The Super Bowl champ chimed in this week on his Footbahlin podcast, reacting to reports of Rodgers’ seven-shot struggles. He wasn’t harsh, but he didn’t exactly hold back either. “Honestly, and I do know Aaron is a Hall of Famer, I do not need to tell him what to do,” Ben said. “But if we are struggling offensively, especially in that seven shots…find a way to get a win.”

Roethlisberger wasn’t just venting. He offered real solutions. Change the cadence. Pull out a trick play. Use timing and rhythm as a weapon. “Like, I sure as heck—at least once a week—I could get TJ [Watt] offside because he is itching to go… That’s a way to get a win: using the snap count to your advantage as an offense,” he explained. “Do something to kind of get you going… find some way to really change the tide. One easy way to do that as a quarterback is to change the cadence.” He even speculated Tomlin brought the starters back out late in the drill just to give Rodgers a second shot at flipping the narrative.

The Steelers aren’t asking Rodgers to be vintage Rodgers. They’re asking him to be useful. Calm in the chaos. A tone-setter. The offense isn’t polished yet. The playbook’s still being installed. But today’s small win might be just enough to stop the ‘change the QB’ talk from building into something bigger. Rodgers said last year, even during the Jets’ collapse: “I think so, yeah,” when asked if he’d keep playing. Now, he doesn’t just need to play. He needs to prove he can still lead. The change Ben’s talking about? It doesn’t mean swapping No. 8 out. But it does mean waking him up.