{"id":240559,"date":"2025-07-27T16:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T16:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/240559\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T16:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T16:38:09","slug":"kordell-stewart-aaron-rodgers-gives-steelers-fighting-chance-in-afc-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/240559\/","title":{"rendered":"Kordell Stewart: Aaron Rodgers Gives Steelers ‘Fighting Chance’ In AFC North"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through the first few practices of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, Aaron Rodgers has had his ups and downs.<\/a> However, there\u2019s no reason to put too much stock into any of his mistakes so far. He hasn\u2019t practiced with the team very much, and this time of the year is for making mistakes. Former Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart isn\u2019t worried about Rodgers, thinking he elevates Pittsburgh\u2019s ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have someone like Aaron Rodgers, who\u2019s a future Hall of Famer, filling that void that we had, trying to find out who would be the next guy up,\u201d Stewart said Sunday on The Irish Steelers Podcast.<\/a> \u201cWaited pretty much the entire offseason, let alone the summer, not knowing if he\u2019s going to retire, if he doesn\u2019t come back and play\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to take his veteran leadership into context to say that there\u2019s a chance that this team can truly compete within that division. If you think about it, with Lamar [Jackson] and Joe Burrow and not knowing for sure what\u2019s going to take place in Cleveland, it gives us a fighting chance to do something really, really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the Steelers had more than a fighting chance in the AFC North. They were leading the division for most of the season. Unfortunately, their late-season collapse opened the door for the Baltimore Ravens to snatch the AFC North crown.<\/p>\n

However, they managed to compete in their division with a lot of uncertainty under center. They began the season with Justin Fields starting, but he got benched once Russell Wilson was healthy.<\/p>\n

Neither Fields nor Wilson was consistently good, either. It\u2019s a stretch to expect Rodgers to play like he did in his prime with the Green Bay Packers. However, if he can at least show flashes of his old self, the Steelers could be in a much better position within the AFC North<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

The Ravens look like the Steelers\u2019 biggest competition for first place in the division. As long as they have Jackson, they\u2019re dangerous. However, the Cincinnati Bengals shouldn\u2019t be overlooked. Their defense looks like it\u2019s going to struggle again, but their offense could be one of the best in the league.<\/p>\n

The Steelers are depending on Rodgers bouncing back from his poor stint with<\/a> the New York Jets. If he falters, their chances at taking the AFC North crown won\u2019t be great. The Steelers\u2019 goal is to win the Super Bowl. Winning their division would be a good step toward achieving that. And Stewart believes Rodgers gives the Steelers a chance to do that. We\u2019ll see over the next few months if he\u2019s right or wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Through the first few practices of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp, Aaron Rodgers has had his ups and downs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[1586,1990,117,256,7,22791,6,520,57,2360,426,48579],"class_list":{"0":"post-240559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-afc-north","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-kordell-stewart","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh","16":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","17":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","18":"tag-steelers","19":"tag-the-irish-steelers-podcast"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114926184706713420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}