The Pittsburgh Steelers are going full throttle into Week 5, but the team struggles offensively, being 2-2 in the league. Now, after the Steelers got an injury setback at the wide receiver position, quarterback Aaron Rodgers had an idea to test the second-round pick from the 2026 NFL Draft, and it has turned out to be great so far.
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“He (Germie Bernard) has a great football brain, football IQ, and understands what he’s doing,” Wide receivers coach Adam Henry told 93.7 The Fan on Friday. “I think Aaron quizzed him on something yesterday, and he knew it. It was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ He (Rodgers) was trying to get him, but he (Bernard) got it.”
According to Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com, Bernard told him that Rodgers asked him about the different coverages that the Week 5 opponents, the Indianapolis Colts, run by down and distance and the area on the field.
Rodgers also asked Bernard about what the Colts’ tendencies are by personnel grouping, the several routes that Rodgers would use against the Colts and how to run them, hand gestures, and more.
But it looks like Bernard passed the test with flying colors. Quarterbacks coach Tom Arth later addressed the one-on-one meeting between Rodgers and Bernard and said that it is difficult to earn Rodgers’ trust.
“The QBs came into one of our meetings this week and were just going on and on about how Germ (Bernard) knows the plan. They said he could call the plays just like a quarterback would,” Arth said.
The rookie’s sudden thrust into a prominent role comes as Michael Pittman Jr. has a foot injury and is expected to be out for “multiple weeks.” This leaves WR1 DK Metcalf and Roman Wilson as the two main receivers for Rodgers to target. This also means that Bernard is potentially getting more game time than he has gotten up to now.
The rookie has just seven receptions for 60 yards in the first four games. But that stat could change rapidly, given that he already knows the theory behind the sport and just needs to show it on the field, with the latter being the difficult part.
Right now, in the receiving corps, Metcalf leads with 16 receptions for 213 yards and one touchdown, and Wilson has 14 receptions for 188 yards and two touchdowns.
This isn’t the level of production a four-time MVP like Rodgers expects from his wideout group. The Steelers rank 16th in passing yards and 24th in points scored, averaging 19.25 points per game. In the running game, the team is ranked 23rd in the league, totaling just 379 rushing yards so far. The Steelers are also one of the only two teams in the league to not have scored a rushing touchdown.
While Bernard’s addition boosts the passing game, his emergence could help open up lanes to fix the struggling ground attack as well.
Aaron Rodgers Has Been Keeping a Close Eye on Germie Bernard, and Now It’s His Time to Shine
Aaron Rodgers is a self-described perfectionist and takes full credit for the name he has really earned. So it is obvious that such a perfectionist is usually blunt and critical of all of his wide receivers, regardless of tenure. The Super Bowl champion thinks the receivers should be so informed of the routes and their execution that the QBs would be able to throw while blindfolded. And he didn’t hesitate to tell Bernard that he wants the receivers to think and do things according to him.
“It’s really made me home in (on) the smallest details,” Bernard said in early September, according to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. “He’s very detail-oriented. It made me dive deeper into my playbook, dive deeper into my relationship with him, so I can start to understand the way that he thinks.”
The Steelers are one of the biggest franchises in the league, and expectations run higher in that kind of atmosphere, even for a rookie. But Bernard could be a trailblazer as a versatile receiver who can line up at X, Y, and Z. Rodgers needs someone like him, and more so, someone he can trust with the plays and the routes.
“There’s a big difference between trusting a guy and then knowing if he’s ready in big situations,” Rodgers said. “It’s a process. I think it’s the mental part first. We challenge them in some of the periods that we do with some quick thinking and adjustments and coverage on the fly. You’ve got to see how they react to it. He’s got a great attitude. He works really hard. He cares about it and puts in the time.”
The Steelers fans have expectations, and they have taken a rather ugly turn, as Rodgers himself has struggled in his 22nd season, with a passer rating of 81.6 and a completion percentage of 57.5, ranking third-last.
As for the rookie, Bernard is “excited” about his new role on the team. Meanwhile, Rodgers and the Steelers still have much more to sort out and no time to breathe with the Sunday game.