PITTSBURGH – Wired headphones inserted into his ears and the hood of his gray sweatshirt flipped up – not long after he ended his news conference with a f-bomb – one of the best to ever step foot on a football field was on his way toward the exits of Acrisure Stadium following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss to the Houston Texans, 30-6, in the final game of the NFL wild-card round. 

Whether it was the final time Aaron Rodgers departed a locker room as a NFL player figures to be an offseason-long question. For the second straight year, Rodgers will take his time contemplating his next steps. There’s the possibility of retirement after 21 NFL seasons, four MVPs, a Super Bowl MVP and more lines than necessary to collate a Hall of Fame resume. He could sign with a different, expected contender. Returning for another go-round with the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin is certainly on the table. 

In his postgame news conference, Rodgers lamented not doing much with the amount of opportunities provided to the Steelers’ offense by the defense, which forced three turnovers, on Monday. He also warned that he’d be avoiding any emotional decisions. 

“I’m disappointed. Obviously, it was such a fun year. A lot of adversity, but a lot of fun.” 

Rodgers said that the 2025 season marked an “overall” great year in his life. He got married. He made the postseason for the first time since the 2021 season.  

“This is a really good part of that, coming here and being part of this team, so it’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”

Asked point-blank if he’d want to continue playing in Pittsburgh should he decide another season in the NFL was what he wanted, Rodgers replied: “I’m not going to talk about that.” 

Rodgers said he’ll “get away” – coming to a darkness retreat near you – have the “right conversations” before making any grand plans. 

“I’ve answered this before,” Rodgers said. “Every game could be my final game.”

Backup Mason Rudolph replaced Rodgers for the Steelers’ final offensive drive of the game, which became a blowout thanks to two fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Texans’ defense. Rodgers was sacked four times. Potentially, Rodgers’ last pass in the NFL was a pick-six returned 50 yards by Calen Bullock. Rodgers was 17 of 33 passing for 146 yards and the pick, with one fumble lost that was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter by Sheldon Rankins, the dam breaking on the Steelers’ season. 

Did loss to Texans mark end of Tomlin era in Pittsburgh?

Tomlin, the Steelers coach, now finds himself at a career crossroads, it seems. 

“I’m not even in that mindset as I sit here tonight,” Tomlin said from the podium. “I’m more in the mindset of what transpired in this stadium and certainly what we did and didn’t do – not a big-picture mentality as I sit here tonight.” 

Tomlin, 53, won a Super Bowl in his second season with the Steelers and was back in the big game two years later. He’s now lost seven straight playoff games and owns an 8-12 postseason record. The last win came after the 2016 season. 

“I don’t necessarily compare it to any other moment,” Tomlin said. “It’s the here and now, and certainly it’s difficult. But that’s what we sign up for. That’s the life we live.”

Tomlin said he always feels optimistic in terms of building a roster that can win in both the regular season and playoffs. 

“When you don’t get it done, words are cheap. It’s about what you do or you don’t do … people talk too much in our business,” Tomlin said. “You either do or you don’t.” 

Steelers’ defensive end Cam Heyward said the outside noise doesn’t affect him because nobody outside of the Steelers’ building can comprehend the effort Tomlin puts into his team and the entire operation. 

“Coaches can only do so much,” he said. “Players have to play better. In those critical moments, players have to step up.”

Once again, the class of the conference existed tiers above what the Steelers were capable of reaching. Even with a future Hall of Famer at quarterback, the Steelers needed until the final game of the regular season to wrap up the division against an opponent that fired their head coach, as John Harbaugh had been employed by the rival Baltimore Ravens for 18 years before his dismissal. Harbaugh was the only coach who rivaled Tomlin’s longevity of 19 seasons in the same place. Never has he turned in a losing campaign, including a 10-7 mark this year.  

Will Year 20 – if there is one to be had for Tomlin in Pittsburgh – bring more of that same standard? Or can they take the next step? The fans at Acrisure Stadium who didn’t wait for the final horn – at least half of the black-and-yellow-clad crowd – might not want to answer that question.

In fact, noticeable “Fire Tomlin!” chants permeated the brisk air as the final minutes ticked away. The boos were louder. 

The classic Twitter “Mike Tomlin/Steelers voodoo dark magic” jokes don’t even hit the same anymore, especially if the result is, at best, a first-round exit.

C.J. Stroud and the Texans tried to give the game away by consistently fumbling the football, but neither Steelers’ unit took advantage. Pittsburgh’s defense is the most expensive one in football. Neither the stats nor the tape made that make sense throughout the season. 

Offseason of Aaron Rodgers speculation begins

Rodgers himself dropped to 11-11 as a starter in the postseason. He has stated throughout the year that he’s enjoyed his time with Tomlin and the Steelers. NFL Media reported that the team would be open to bringing him back next season. He looks rejuvenated compared to the version of the future Hall of Famer that played last season on the New York Jets, one season after he tore his ACL on the fourth play of the season during his “Gang Green” debut. 

The arm strength remains. He had no problem overthrowing Calvin Austin III on a go route in the third quarter, with the ball traveling about 60 yards through the air with ease. Or an intermediate threading of the needle to Adam Thielen to start a drive later that quarter. 

But tailoring the offense to Rodgers’ wants and needs reaches a point of diminishing returns. Early in the game, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith moved the pocket for Rodgers, who rolled left, flipped hips, found a wide-open DK Metcalf on an intermediate crossing route for a pickup of 25 yards. Rodgers went back to him on the next play and drew a defensive pass interference call. 

The Steelers did their best to bring in components that helped in the effort to distribute the ball quickly. Kenneth Gainwell earned Rodgers’ trust through an ability to seemingly always make the first tackler miss. Metcalf, when available, put his YAC-prowess to use. Tomlin and the front office placated Rodgers by signing veterans Adam Thielen and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. 

Tomlin’s patience last offseason netted him Rodgers under the presumption that the Steelers were simply competent quarterback play away from being contenders. 

Rodgers said the Steelers have the pieces in place to remain in the playoff race. Metcalf is under contract for the next handful of seasons. The team will have to keep Gainwell in the building, Rodgers advised. 

Coming together as a team during training camp in Latrobe, Pennsylvania is one of the many fun moments of the 2025 season Rodgers will return to with fondness, he said. 

“We faced a lot of adversity. But there’s a lot of special moments that I’ll think back on,” Rodgers said. “Right now, it’s just disappointment. But thankful to put the colors on and run out of the tunnel and be a part of this organization.”

Fueled by frustration from having to constantly answer the same question – what did he learn about Tomlin this year? – Rodgers said as much, dropped an expletive, and got up from his seat at the microphone to end his press conference. 

Rodgers then strolled toward the exit, hood up and headphones in, stopped to talk with right guard Mason McCormick and a few Texans players outside of the visitor’s locker room, and then was on his way. 

To where is a question that has an answer nearly as complicated as the guy it is about.

The NCAA’s top programs were all in action this week as all 15 nationally ranked women’s college hockey teams played. 

For Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard and Boston College, it was also a final chance to tune up ahead of the 2026 Beanpot tournament that begins Tuesday, with the finals next week at Boston’s TD Garden.

For the first time, programs like Yale, Clarkson and Colgate showed they might soon move into these national power rankings as well.

While familiar squads lead the top three, Penn State and Minnesota-Duluth swapped places in the top 10 from last week.

Here’s a look at the top 10 NCAA women’s hockey programs this week:

Women’s college hockey power rankings

1. University of Wisconsin (WCHA)

After returning a week later than other programs in 2026, Wisconsin stumbled out of the gate, tying Minnesota-Duluth 1-1 and losing in the shootout. They looked more like themselves in Game 2 of the weekend series as stars Laila Edwards, Caroline Harvey, Kirsten Simms, Kelly Gorbatenko and Adela Sapovalivova found the back of the net in a balanced 5-1 win. Wisconsin has been so consistent this season that it was bound for a blip.

2. Ohio State University (WCHA)

Kaia Malachino has added another threat to Ohio State’s forward group. Coach Nadine Muzerall seemingly gets a contribution from someone new each game as they had nine different goal-scorers across their 4-0 and 5-1 sweep of WCHA conference rival St. Cloud State. Rookie Hilda Svensson continues to lead the Buckeyes in scoring and sits third nationally behind only American Olympians Abbey Murphy (Minnesota) and Caroline Harvey (Wisconsin).

3. University of Minnesota (WCHA)

Can anybody stop Minnesota captain Abbey Murphy? She pushed her nation-leading goal and point totals to 28 goals and 50 points in 22 games after scoring four goals and seven points in a sweep over conference rival Minnesota State this weekend. While she recorded a hat trick, it was her highlight-reel, lacrosse-style assist that drew attention.

4. University of Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)

After a troublesome trip to Northern Ireland for the Bulldogs, they answered in a big way, beating Wisconsin in a shootout to open their weekend before falling 5-1 on Saturday. Eve Gascon made 38 saves and stopped all shootout attempts on Friday’s shootout win, and she did it only hours after finding out she had been cut from Canada’s Olympic team. The response from their team, and one of the top goalies in the nation, was strong. 

5. Quinnipiac (ECAC)

The Quinnipiac Bobcats continued to roll this past weekend, beating RPI and Union by identical 5-1 margins after returning from a positive showing at the Friendship Series in Belfast. Forwards Kahlen Lamarche and Emerson Jarvis continued to power Quinnipiac’s offense. No goaltender in NCAA hockey has played more than Felicia Frank, and few have played as well as she sits third in the nation in goals-against average (1.38) and save percentage (.943).

6. Penn State (Atlantic Hockey America)

Mercyhurst has been a thorn in Penn State’s side recently. That continued last weekend as Penn State shut out the Lakers 3-0 before falling 4-3 in overtime. It’s just not an outcome the Nittany Lions can accept if they want to prove they can compete with the best programs from ECAC and the WCHA. The program is set to lose Tessa Janecke, Kendall Butze, Maddy Christian, Katie DeSa, Katelyn Roberts and Leah Stecker after this season.

7. Cornell (ECAC)

Cornell tied Clarkson but won the shootout and beat St. Lawrence. What was promising about the results was that the typically offensively starved Big Red scored 10 goals in two games. Their tie against Clarkson coincided with an uncharacteristic off-night from netminder Annelies Bergmann, who has been one of college hockey’s most consistent goaltenders for three seasons.

8. Princeton (ECAC)

Issy Wunder had five goals in two games as Princeton beat Union and RPI. They’ve got another tune-up week against a pair of Ivy League schools this week before they return to matchups against nationally ranked programs.

9. Northeastern (Hockey East)

After being shut out by Yale in a mid-week game, Northeastern bounced back, beating Providence 5-2. Rookie Stryker Zablocki led the way with her second hat trick of the season. Providence, however, outshot Northeastern. They won’t dip far in the national rankings, but they powered down this week, not up.

10. Connecticut (Hockey East)

UConn swept Maine, but it wasn’t convincing. Maine outshot them on the weekend, and UConn narrowly held on for 2-1 and 4-3 wins. After Yale posted back-to-back shutouts over Northeastern and Dartmouth, UConn will need a stronger showing this week against Merrimack to stay in the top 10.

On Jan. 12, the future Hall of Fame QB’s final pass against the Houston Texans ended in a touchdown – for the opposing team.

Texans defensive back Calen Bullock returned Rodgers’ final pass of the wild-card matchup in Pittsburgh for a pick-six, sealing Houston’s eventual 30-6 win.

Rodgers didn’t return for the Steelers’ final drive, begging the question, is this the last pass of his storied career?

While that question, along with many more surrounding the future of the Steelers, will be answered in the offseason, Rodgers’ final game of the 2025 season was a disappointment by any standard. The Steelers’ most recent playoff loss of the Mike Tomlin era saw Rodgers finish 17-of-33 passing for 146 yards, one interception and zero touchdowns.

Rodgers was sacked four times, fumbled twice, and posted a passer rating of 50.8.

The image of Rodgers walking off the field in defeat is a far cry from the highs of his years with the Green Bay Packers. Will it be the last fans see of him on an NFL field? Only time will tell.

AI-assisted summary
• Aaron Rodgers believes the idea of firing coaches like Mike Tomlin or Matt LaFleur would have been unthinkable earlier in his career.
• Rodgers criticized the influence of social media and TV experts on NFL coaching decisions, calling it a ‘joke.’
• He stated that when a team has the right coach and culture, changes should not be considered despite outside pressure.

PITTSBURGH – Back in Aaron Rodgers’ day, aka the 2000s, the idea of firing either the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin, or the Green Bay Packers’ Matt LaFleur would be considered asinine, the 42-year-old quarterback believes. 

Rodgers acknowledged that bias, since he played for both of the coaches, played a part in his stance. But he knows how he’d run things if it were his call to make. 

“This league has changed a lot in my 21 years,” Rodgers said following the Steelers’ wild-card loss to the Houston Texans, 30-6, on Jan. 12. “You know, when you hear conversation about the Mike Tomlins of the world, Matt LaFleurs of the world – those are just two that I’ve played for – when I first got in the league, there wouldn’t be (a) conversation about whether those guys were on the hot seat.”

The way in which the NFL is covered now, Rodgers said, and the “snap decisions” that are made in accordance with the larger discourse is an issue. 

“The validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they’re talking about, to me, that’s an absolute joke,” Rodgers said. “For either of those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we’re at as a society and as a league.” 

LaFleur’s season ended Saturday when his Packers collapsed in the second half against the Chicago Bears and lost. Despite a NFL Media report from the end of the regular season saying a contract extension could be in the works, which was mirrored by an ESPN report Monday that LaFleur’s job was safe, speculation spread that Green Bay could be looking to move on from the seventh-year head coach. 

Tomlin, meanwhile, lost his seventh straight playoff game June 12 with Rodgers as his quarterback to wrap up the duo’s first – and perhaps only – season as a coach-QB duo. 

“Obviously, Matt has done a lot of great things in Green Bay, and we had a lot of success,” said Rodgers, who won his third and fourth MVPs while being coached by LaFleur. “‘Mike T.’ has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years. 

“More than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don’t think about making a change. But there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But that’s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.” 

Aaron Rodgers is taking a beating.

The four-time NFL MVP is playing in what might be the final game of his career on ‘Monday Night Football’ in the wild-card round against the Houston Texans. It’s safe to the say the visitors are trying to crash the Pittsburgh Steelers’ party at Acrisure Stadium.

Rodgers has been under pressure all night long and in the fourth quarter, the Texans finally got the turnover they were looking for.

Facing a third-and-12 with over 11 minutes left down by four, Rodgers dropped back to pass. He was promptly met by multiple Texans, mainly Will Anderson Jr., who led the charge.

The 42-year-old quarterback was devoured by the pass rush and coughed up the ball, which Sheldon Rankins returned for a Houston touchdown.

It extended the Texans’ lead to 11 with 11 minutes to go, a seemingly insurmountable deficit for the offensively-challenged Steelers against arguably the league’s best defense.

The four-seeded Steelers backed into the playoffs thanks to a missed field goal by the Baltimore Ravens’ Tyler Loop in the final game of the regular season.

If it wasn’t for that, Rodgers and co. would’ve been home watching their rivals in this contest.

Instead, it’s the Steelers that are getting clobbered by a lethal pass rush.