The Pittsburgh Steelers came up short against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday Night Football, falling 33-31 for their first loss since Week 2.
However, it wasn’t Aaron Rodgers’ fault.
Rodgers turned in his second-best game of the season, behind only his Week 1 masterpiece against the New York Jets. Despite throwing a pair of fluky interceptions in the second quarter, he completed 23 of 34 pass attempts for a season-high 249 passing yards and four touchdowns — matching his season-best from Week 1.
It wasn’t enough, however, as the Steelers’ defense had no answer for Joe Flacco and the Bengals’ offense, allowing them to win the game on Evan McPherson’s last-second 36-yard field goal.
Despite the disappointing ending, Rodgers made NFL history with his stellar performance, passing Pittsburgh legend Ben Roethlisberger for fifth place in career passing yards.
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Rodgers has amassed 64,222 passing yards — the most of any active player — across 21 seasons. Roethlisberger, who spent his entire 18-year career with the Steelers, is now sixth on the all-time list with 64,088 passing yards.
Rodgers will likely retire in fifth place, as he’s still over 7,000 yards away from Brett Favre in fourth place. He would probably need to play at least two more seasons to get there, which seems unlikely given his age (41) and contract situation.
Regardless, the four-time NFL MVP is still playing at a high level, leading Pittsburgh to a 4-2 record and first place in the AFC North with his league-high 14 touchdown passes. He’ll look to continue his strong campaign against his old team, the Green Bay Packers, on Sunday Night Football in Week 8.
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Featured image via Barry Reeger/Imagn Images