Steelers-Packers won't be a revenge game for Aaron Rodgers, who said he's comes to terms with his exit from Green Bay

Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Oct 22, 2025

Published in Football

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PITTSBURGH — Aaron Rodgers knows how the Green Bay Packers do business. He better than anyone knows their philosophy on quarterbacks is to move on from them too early rather than too late.

He learned that firsthand when he was selected in the first round of the 2005 draft as the heir apparent to future Hall of Famer and Super Bowl winner Brett Favre. He bided his time behind Favre for three seasons before being elevated to the starting role and eventually becoming one of the NFL’s all-time great players.

So Rodgers knew exactly what was happening when the Packers selected Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft. From that moment on, Rodgers knew his days in Green Bay were numbered.

“I texted with him last week,” Rodgers said of Love on Wednesday afternoon following practice at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “He’s a great kid. He really is. I enjoyed my time with him. I’m not surprised by him. He’s playing great.

“His progression was like mine. The first year, you’re getting your feet wet. The second year, you’re getting a little more confident. And by the time the third year comes around, you’re ready to play. I had my moment in ’07 in Dallas when Brett got hurt and I played well. He had his moment against Philly in ’22. I got banged up, and he looked great.

“That was the message to the organization — that this guy is ready to play. I felt like that in ’07, and he probably felt like that in ’22. I’m happy for him. He’s one of the real good guys in the league.”

Rodgers vs. Love. Steelers vs. Packers. This is exactly what NBC wanted when it handpicked this game for its “Sunday Night Football” lineup back in April when the schedule was released.

This game has a little bit of everything — the displaced future Hall of Fame quarterback facing off against his former team for the first time, two iconic franchises in prime time and the added storyline of the mentor vs. the mentee.

“I don’t have any animosity toward the organization,” Rodgers said. “Obviously I wish things would have been better in our last year there, but I have great relationships with a lot of people still in that organization. This is not a revenge game for me. I’m just excited to see some of those guys again and be on ‘Sunday Night Football’ again.”

Rodgers admitted it’s taken him some time to evolve to those feelings. After all, he was still playing at a high level when the Packers made the decision to trade him to the Jets in April 2023. He points out he won league MVP in Love’s first two seasons with the team.

But when the Packers fell off to 8-9 and missed the playoffs in 2022, it was Green Bay’s opening to insert Love as the new starter. A few months later, the Packers shipped Rodgers off to the Jets, ending an 18-year tenure that included four MVPs and the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl victory.

Love has led the Packers to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons as the starter and has the Packers in the thick of the NFC playoff race once again this season. Love came close to upsetting the 49ers in a 2023 divisional round playoff game and reaching the NFC title game in his first year as a starter.

Rodgers, after two frustrating seasons in New York, has the Steelers in first place in the AFC North. A few weeks shy of his 42nd birthday, he is evoking memories from his days with the Packers. He’s tied for the AFC lead in touchdown passes with 14 and is on pace to throw 40.

Rodgers said he might be a bit more sentimental this week if the game were being played at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, but he’s come to terms with how things ended there and focuses on the fond memories he has from his nearly two decades in Titletown.

“We’re always working on ourselves and trying to be better than we were the previous day, the previous month, the previous year,” Rodgers said. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder maybe. I have a lot of great memories from my time there. I had a lot of great interactions with fans there, living in Green Bay. I grew up there. I’m thankful for my time there.

“Obviously I would have liked to have ridden off into the sunset there, but that’s not the way the league goes sometimes. I knew the writing was on the wall when Jordan was picked. I happened to win MVP the first two years he was there. But I knew, at some point, there would be a change, and if I wanted to play, it would be elsewhere. I understand the situation. We live and we learn.”

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