PITTSBURGH — Drop the name of Aaron Rodgers to a couple of friendly strangers in the Steel City and it doesn’t matter that you’ve just met. Pass the truth serum. In these parts, where the fans bleed Black and Gold, it seems that everybody has some passionate opinion about the new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.
“I was expecting this to happen,” Corrine Farrell said. ‘But I’m extremely disappointed with the Steelers organization.”
As Farrell broke down her reasoning with USA TODAY Sports on a plaza at PNC Park before the Pirates took on the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night – she is skeptical of how Rodgers will impact locker room chemistry, wonders about the one-year commitment and among other concerns, didn’t feel his anti-vax stance — Arianna Lower sat behind her and provided background optics.
Lower flashed a thumb-down and shook her head.
“Steelers fans, we’ve been through the ringer,” Lower said. “I just want something to last. I want a Josh Allen.”
Taking the pulse from fans about Rodgers, 41, was quite the exercise during a rain delay that pushed back the first pitch. And it was apparent that for all the items on Rodgers’ agenda as he seeks to regain the form that allowed him to earn four NFL MVP awards, winning over the Steelers’ rabid fan base is also a legitimate challenge.
Master a new system. Mesh with new teammates. Adapt to a new city. Shoot, convincing Steelers Nation that he is the answer might be tougher than any of that.
Of course, winning can change hearts and minds – and well, winning big when considering a franchise that has never had a losing season in coach Mike Tomlin’s 18-year tenure but hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016 – but there is no free pass.
Never mind a grace period. Rodgers, whose one-year contract could pay $19.5 million with incentives and guarantees $10 million, according to ESPN, seemingly gets little, if any, grace from the fan base.
“My honest opinion, I’m not happy about it,” Ron Stadler, another lifelong fan, declared. “I wanted to see Mason Rudolph get a chance.”
He added, “I have a lot of friends that feel the same way.”
And a son, too. He summoned Ron Stadler, Jr., standing a few feet away. And the forty-something son was a lot less diplomatic.
“No, not optimistic at all,” Stadler, Jr. said. “I wish he’d have retired already. He sucks.”
Say what? About a four-time NFL MVP?
“Look at his record the last three years,” Stadler, Jr. shot back. “And he’s almost as old as me. C’mon, Tomlin.”
Rodgers, set to participate in the Steelers’ minicamp that opens Tuesday, joins a quarterback room that includes Rudolph, Skylar Thompson and sixth-round rookie Will Howard. His two seasons with the New York Jets included a torn Achilles tendon that wiped out his 2023 campaign after four plays and a meltdown in 2024 that extended way beyond the quarterbacking and including the early season firing of coach Robert Saleh.
The skepticism for another fresh start, though, may be even worse when assessing reaction on social media since the much-anticipated news finally broke on Thursday that Rodgers would join the Steelers for his 21st NFL season.
Maybe the most extreme damnation came from a (now-ex) Steelers fan who posted a video on social media that went viral. In the video, the man renounced his fan loyalty and burned a signed Minkah Fitzpatrick jersey.
Sorry, Minkah. The jersey became a convenient prop. It’s not like the five-time Pro Bowl safety is making the personnel decisions.
“First off, why Minkah’s jersey? That’s bonkers,” Cam Heyward, the veteran defensive tackle, said in a rebuttal post on X. “Second, why burn (it) when there are plenty of people who need clothes? Third, you’re going to regret it.”
Leave it to Heyward, team captain and well-respected locker room presence, to lend a voice of reason to the mix.
Still, from the jersey-burning guy to the handful of fans encountered at the baseball game, there’s something to be drawn about the psyche of Steelers fans.
As Tomlin is prone to state, “The standard is the standard.’
For followers of a franchise that has won six Super Bowls, that means a championship standard, which is why the drought cuts so deeply. Last season’s championship visions, with Russell Wilson supplanting Justin Fields at quarterback, unraveled so fast down the stretch. The Steelers went from 10-3 in mid-December to losing their final five games, including another first-round playoff knockout.
Maybe Rodgers will be the difference-maker at quarterback that Pittsburgh hasn’t had since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season. After all, Tom Brady was 43 during the 2020 campaign when he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl 55 crown.
“I’m not going to hold my breath,” Farrell said of the prospect of a deep playoff run.
“I go into every season optimistic,” she allowed. “I’m really hoping, although I don’t like him, that maybe he changes things to the point that we win more than nine games.”
Hey, optimism isn’t extinct after all. Voices of positivity remain. You just have to dig a bit deeper these days to find it coming from a Steelers fan.
“I’m real excited,” maintained Austin Patton, another Steeler fan lifer. “No other quarterback on the roster is better. His experience is huge. Tom Brady did the same thing.”
He knows. His is not the popular opinion.
“A lot of people hate, but every year I think they’re going to the Super Bowl,” Patton added. “Maybe there’s a bit of delusion…”
Or with Rodgers’ arrival, just another reason to express some serious passion.
Follow Jarrett Bell on social media: @JarrettBell