Here we are, biding our time on Super Bowl Sunday, and yet, another super pro football headline — that has nothing to do with the game — comes our way. For New York Jets fans, this one is hardly surprising, courtesy of historical precedence.
It’s becoming more likely that old friend Aaron Rodgers returns to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2026, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
“Odds are increasing” that Aaron Rodgers returns to the Steelers next season after multiple conversations with new head coach Mike McCarthy, per @TomPelissero.
Rodgers, 42, would be entering his 22nd season in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/YyqQS2xmZT
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 8, 2026
Rodgers, 42, is in the midst of his first offseason with the Steelers. Fresh off the heels of an admirable season — 3,342 yards and 24 touchdowns to 7 interceptions on 65.7 completion percentage in 16 games — much has been made of the quarterback’s future.
Would the man who screamed at a teammate tackle so viscerally come back for another season?
At this point, it’s silly for anybody to say “one more season,” as it’s been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the old-man quarterback can play in today’s NFL. I mean, sheesh, just glance at the job Philip Rivers did this season for the Indianapolis Colts. Hey, defenders can hardly touch these guys anymore, so it makes sense.
In any event, Rodgers’ return in 2026 should have been viewed as a likely occurrence once Pittsburgh hired Mike McCarthy. Other than his rookie season when Mike Sherman held the clipboard, McCarthy was the only man Rodgers knew as head coach from 2006 to 2018.
The duo won a Super Bowl together, with Rodgers taking home Super Bowl MVP honors (2010) and a pair of NFL MVPs (2011 and 2014). Rodgers’s other two MVPs came under Matt LaFleur in 2020 and 2021.
The Jets-Rodgers story is well documented at this point. With much hype leading the charge in the Spring and Summer of 2023, the Jets’ aging quarterback went down just four plays into the season (Achilles).
In 2024, after starting 2-1, Rodgers’s Jets fell flat with a 5-11 record. Head coach Robert Saleh was fired after starting 2-3, which meant the head coach Rodgers chose to play for, when he chose the Jets, only coached him for a grand total of five games (over the course of two full NFL seasons).
Why this most recent super headline feels standard is easy to explain: The rumors of a potential Rodgers-Jets marriage three years ago intensified just prior to Super Bowl 57, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Other Super Sunday headlines include Tom Brady’s second retirement (the real one), and the departures of Bill Belichick from the New England Patriots and Pete Carroll from the Seattle Seahawks. Interestingly, both legendary coaches once held the “HC of Jets” title, and the teams they are so historically intertwined with are the organizations set to do battle in Super Bowl 60.
The officially listed kickoff time is 6:30 p.m. ET, when New York Jets fans will surely be rooting for Sam Darnold to knock off the AFC East rival club led by Mike Vrabel.