{"id":430981,"date":"2026-01-24T21:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430981\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T21:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T21:01:13","slug":"how-steelers-coaching-hire-of-mike-mccarthy-could-affect-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430981\/","title":{"rendered":"How Steelers’ coaching hire of Mike McCarthy could affect Aaron Rodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaron Rodgers<\/a> is reportedly\u00a0open to returning to the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> for the 2026 season and after the franchise’s\u00a0plan to hire Mike McCarthy<\/a> as their next coach, that possibility could come to fruition.<\/p>\n

Rodgers, 42, threw for 3,322 yards and 24 touchdowns this season, leading the Steelers to their first AFC North division title in five years after going 10-6 at Pittsburgh’s starter. He battled through a disappointing performance during a wild-card loss to the Houston Texans<\/a> and did not detail his future plans in the aftermath, instead offering support to the outgoing Mike Tomlin<\/a>, who stepped down after 19 seasons following the loss.<\/p>\n

Rodgers signed a one-year deal with the Steelers ahead of the 2025 season and many have wondered if retirement is next — especially on the heels of Tomlin stepping down. Could the presence of McCarthy change things?<\/p>\n

McCarthy went 125-77 with the Green Bay Packers<\/a> with Rodgers as his primary quarterback and then had five-year stint coaching the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> that ended in 2024. NFL<\/a> Network’s Tom Pelissero said this week that Rodgers has a great deal of respect for McCarthy and their relationship could result in a reunion in Pittsburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I do believe that if Aaron Rodgers were coming back to play for one coach in 2026, it would be Mike McCarthy,”\u00a0Pelissero said<\/a>\u00a0Friday on “The Rich Eisen Show.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Steelers hire Mike McCarthy: Former Cowboys, Packers coach to succeed Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

\n Bryan DeArdo <\/p>\n

\"Steelers<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Pelissero reiterated his previous point Saturday afternoon after reports of Pittsburgh closing in on McCarthy began to circulate.<\/p>\n

“To be clear: The Steelers aren’t hiring Mike McCarthy to lure Aaron Rodgers back for another season,” Pelissero wrote on X<\/a>, “but if there’s one coach besides Mike Tomlin that Rodgers would consider playing for, it’s McCarthy, who helped mold Rodgers into a four-time NFL MVP in Green Bay.”<\/p>\n

Rodgers had previously alluded to 2025 being his final season, citing his one-year deal. Rodgers said the playoff loss to the Texans\u00a0would not impact his decision<\/a>. Steelers owner Art Rooney II acknowledged\u00a0Tomlin’s decision to step away would<\/a>\u00a0likely affect Rodgers’ future.<\/p>\n

“I’m not going to make any emotional decisions at this point,” Rodgers said earlier this month. “It was such a fun year. Been a great year overall in my life, and this has been a really good part of that, coming here and being a part of this team. It’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”<\/p>\n

Many former franchise greats have been vocal during Pittsburgh’s early search, including ex-Super Bowl champion\u00a0Ben Roethlisberger, who said this week<\/a> he would welcome the hiring of McCarthy and likes the idea of Rodgers potentially coming back for 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After being defensive-minded under Tomlin since 2007, Roethlisberger’s one request was for the Steelers to make an offense-first hire this time around.<\/p>\n

“Mike McCarthy is an offensive veteran coach with Pittsburgh ties, he understands the Steeler way, what it means to be a Steeler and the Rooney family and how it works,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday<\/a> on his podcast. “Lot of respect for him. He could bring a younger coordinator or whatever to help. The potential downside for that is how long would he keep coaching for? I don’t know.<\/p>\n

“The potential positive side of coming in here would be the potential of Aaron Rodgers coming back. They have a relationship together. I assume it’s good enough. They won a Super Bowl<\/a> together. You could bring his offense in. Aaron would know the offense and feel super comfortable in an offense he knows.”<\/p>\n

Rodgers is a 10-time Pro Bowler, a four-time NFL MVP and won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers under McCarthy’s direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aaron Rodgers is reportedly\u00a0open to returning to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 2026 season and after the franchise’s\u00a0plan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1754,112069,12660,49,48,1721,1730,1737,167904,514,949,82,1626],"class_list":["post-430981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-aaron-rodgers-retirement","tag-ben-roethlisberger","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dallas-cowboys","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-sports","tag-steelers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}