Fifty-five seconds left, season on the line. Aaron Rodgers dropped a 26-yard touchdown on the Baltimore Ravens that sealed the AFC North. That throw? That’s exactly why head coach Mike Tomlin chased the 42-year old last Spring. But here’s the thing, what’s happening between these two goes way beyond football. As the Pittsburgh Steelers prep for their Wild Card game, Tomlin’s pulling back the curtain on a partnership built on something rarely discussed in this league: the weight of being the man everyone looks to.

“You know, it’s very important, because they’re unique jobs,” Coach Tomlin said about his relationship with Rodgers. “I think we gotta be connected. There’s a loneliness with leadership. There’s a responsibility with leadership and so I’ve just learned over the years to embrace that component of it. That we’ve gotta spend time together. We’ve gotta have an understanding.”

Raw, honest, not your typical coach-speak. Most NFL pressers are filled with safe answers and corporate phrases. But Tomlin admitted what every leader knows but few say: it’s isolating at the top. The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, and that kind of drought wears on you. They needed someone who got it. Someone who’d felt that pressure before.

And Rodgers gets it. His 294-yard demolition of the Ravens in Week 18 showed he still has it when it matters. That final-minute drive was surgical, the kind of thing you do when you’ve been in these moments a hundred times in your career. Tomlin made Rodgers his only option in the offseason because he knew the veteran understood what it takes to carry a franchise on your arm. And what makes this coach-quarterback partnership even more important is that Rodgers isn’t just here to win; he’s here to teach.

“It’s been really fun because he has an appetite for it. He loves the process as much as he loves competing,” Tomlin further added. “He’s got an awesome relationship with football. He’s at the point of his career where he is really reflective and excited about giving back to the game and the young people in the game. And so it’s fun to do that with him and help young guys like Will Howard advance in his career.”

That mindset has changed the whole QB room. Will Howard, the rookie sixth-rounder fresh off a national championship at Ohio State, is soaking it all in. Rodgers has made mentoring him a priority. Rodgers had already spent three years helping Jordan Love with the Green Bay Packers. He knows how to balance pushing guys while building them up. The Steelers have clinched their first AFC North title since 2020 with Rodgers leading the way, 25th in franchise history. But the real value? It’s in how this team carries itself now.

After their rousing victory against Baltimore, Calvin Austin III, who brought in that last touchdown from A-Rod, spoke about how impactful it was to have Mike Tomlin and Rodgers leading the team.

“At the end of the day, we got Coach T and 8,” he said. “So, we always have a shot.”

And now comes the playoff payoff for Tomlin or Rodgers. Or the biggest test, depending on how you look at it.

Mike Tomlin gearing up for Wild Card under the lights

The fourth-seeded Steelers host the fifth-seeded Houston Texans on Monday night. It will be their first postseason game at Acrisure since that painful Wild Card loss to the Cleveland Browns in January 2021. And Mike Tomlin is determined to deliver a win.

“Don’t take playoff games for granted,” Coach Tomlin said. “Excited about it, but we show respect to that by training with an edge and preparing with great urgency. And I’m looking forward to a full week of doing so with our collective.”

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This season’s been a rollercoaster for the Steelers. Started 4-1, nosedived to 6-6, and then won three straight before that gut-punch loss to Cleveland in Week 17. Nothing’s been easy, and the hardest battle was against Baltimore. And now, the six-game playoff losing streak hangs over everything.

But they’ve got a coach who admits leadership can be lonely, and a quarterback who’s finally found where he belongs again. Monday night will now tell us everything. The Steelers have the pieces; they have the stage, and a home field advantage. Now, they’ve just got to make sure those Terrible Towels don’t stop waving.