NFL Insider ‘Very Worried’ About Steelers, Aaron Rodgers

The 2025 NFL season begins on Thursday night, while the Pittsburgh Steelers kick off their campaign on Sunday against the New York Jets.

A group of 47 writers and editors at The Athletic revealed their predictions for the season on Thursday and while the New England Patriots are being tabbed as the “biggest surprise” team, Pittsburgh received the most votes as the “biggest disappointment,” earning seven tallies. The Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings received the second-most votes with six apiece.

The revamped Steelers are looking to make the postseason for the third consecutive year, while the Patriots are looking to snap their three-year playoff drought.

“Aaron Rodgers inked a one-year deal to join Pittsburgh for what could be his final season. The expectation, of course, is for the Steelers to make the playoffs for a third straight year and, more importantly, win their first playoff game since 2016. But that won’t happen with a 41-year-old Rodgers, who looked like a shell of himself, at least from a mobility standpoint, in 2024,” Indianapolis Colts beat writer James Boyd said. “In Rodgers’ first season since tearing his Achilles in 2023, he wasn’t able to extend plays as he had done earlier in his career. Without that improvisation, which made Rodgers so special over the years, Pittsburgh won’t be doing anything worthwhile.”

“I’m very worried about the Pittsburgh Steelers,” columnist Jon Greenberg added. “The Aaron Rodgers move could work, sure, but I think this team has been kicking the can down the road too long at QB and despite the defense, this could be the year they finish below .500.”

After losing their sixth straight playoff game in January, the Steelers underwent massive changes in their locker room.

Pittsburgh not only signed four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the offseason but added two-time Pro Bowl wideout D.K. Metcalf and 2024 Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith to the offense as well. Head coach Mike Tomlin will also trot out seven-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jalen Ramsey onto the field along with an already stacked group of defenders.

The Steelers said goodbye to quarterbacks Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, wide receiver George Pickens and five-time Pro Bowl safety Minkah Fitzpatrick in the trade that landed them Ramsey and Smith.

“Coach Mike Tomlin seems to pull off a magic act every year to make his team a couple wins better than projected, but this feels like the first time he’ll go below eight wins in his 19 seasons,” Kansas City Chiefs beat writer Jesse Newell said.

Pittsburgh hasn’t had a losing season in over two decades and has made the playoffs in 12 of Tomlin’s 18 seasons as head coach. If some of the experts are right, that run of success could end this year.

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