The Steelers are being very protective about the extent of the injury to Aaron Rodgers’ left wrist, and it is not immediately known how many games, if any, he will miss.
Rodgers was scheduled to have an MRI on Monday to reveal the extent of the injury, which occurred in the final moments of the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was at the Steelers practice facility on the South Side on Monday morning.
The Steelers will not make any public comment on Rodgers’ injury until Mike Tomlin’s weekly news conference Tuesday.
Rodgers was seen standing outside the Steelers locker room after their 34-12 victory against the Bengals, wearing a protective wrap on his wrist, smiling and greeting the players as they came off the field.
If Rodgers can’t play Sunday in Chicago — he has beaten the Bears more times (24) than any other NFL team in his career — it will be the fifth season in 21 years in which he will have missed at least one game because of injury.
Rodgers missed one game in 2010 because of a concussion, seven games in 2013 with a broken left collarbone, nine games in 2017 with a broken right collarbone and all but five snaps of the 2023 season with the New York Jets with a torn Achilles tendon.
Rodgers’ injury would mean Mason Rudolph would make his first start for the Steelers since the 2023 playoff loss in Buffalo. Rudolph won the final three games of the regular season that year as a replacement for Kenny Pickett to get the Steelers into the postseason.
And he picked up right where he left off against the Bengals, starting the second half and completing 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards and one touchdown. More important, he converted 5 of 6 third-down opportunities, including three of at least 3rd-and-11.
The Steelers offense operates differently with Rudolph than it does for Rodgers, even though the play calling doesn’t vary a great deal.
With Rodgers, much of what the offense does is predicated on what the former four-time league MVP sees at the line of scrimmage. Not many quarterbacks are able to process what they see out of the huddle — like Rodgers — and can often struggle when they have too many options on a play.
With Rudolph, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith doesn’t ask him to do too much at the line of scrimmage, just to execute the play that is called. But Smith also calls plays that are tailored to a quarterback’s preference and comfort level. They also want Rudolph to play at a fast pace, which he does well … and did against the Bengals.
“I think it usually takes a few completions to get into the flow of the game and find a rhythm,” Rudolph said. “I thought I settled down a little bit. I had a couple errant ones early, but I just tried to get it to our guys.”
It didn’t take him long. Rudolph was 6 of 8 for 53 yards on his opening possession that included a 17-yard pass to Roman Wilson on 3rd-and-11 and a 17-yard completion to tight end Darnell Washington on 3rd-and-17. That led to a Chris Boswell field goal.
“I send him my favorite plays each and every week,” Rudolph said. “We were just kind of talking through [on the sidelines] what’s already been called and what he liked that’s remaining that they haven’t seen.”
The injury to Rodgers also means rookie Will Howard will get more practice time with the regular units to get him prepared to be the backup quarterback in Chicago. Howard was the emergency third quarterback against the Bengals after being added to the 53-man roster last week.
Good news, bad news
The Steelers scored on the opening drive against the Bengals, the seventh time in 10 starts (four touchdowns, three field goals) they have done so this season. They have scored 50 points in the first quarter compared to 48 all last season.
However, the offense has now failed to score more than seven points in the first quarter in 85 consecutive games. The previous time was Week 10 of the 2020 season against the Bengals.