The end of Aaron Rodgers’ career finally has a date.Â
After signing a one-year deal to rejoin the Pittsburgh Steelers on May 18, Rodgers revealed to reporters that the 2026 season will officially be his last in the NFL.
“This is it,” Rodgers said on Wednesday.
Rodgers, 42, made the decision after contemplating retirement this offseason. In fact, Rodgers admitted that he thought he was going to retire when Mike Tomlin stepped down as Steelers head coach this offseason. But his mind changed when the Steelers hired Mike McCarthy, who was his head coach for 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers.Â
“I thought that was probably it for me in Pittsburgh,” Rodgers told reporters. “But when the decision was made to hire Mike [McCarthy], I started opening my mind back up to coming back.”
Rodgers and McCarthy achieved good success together in Green Bay, winning Super Bowl XLV over Pittsburgh in the 2010 season. Together, they recorded 107 wins and made nine playoff appearances.
Under McCarthy’s system, Rodgers became one of the most efficient quarterbacks in NFL history. He won two of his four NFL MVP awards in 2011 and 2014 while leading Green Bay’s offense at an elite level.
“It is like a [bunch of] ‘pinch me’ moments that have happened in the last few days,” Rodgers said following the Steelers’ second day of organized team activities.Â
Rodgers already owns a Hall of Fame résumé and is widely expected to become a first-ballot inductee. He needed only 144 games to reach 300 career passing touchdowns and 193 games to hit 400, breaking records previously held by Peyton Manning and Dan Marino.
He also shares the highest career passer rating in NFL history among qualified quarterbacks at 102.2. Rodgers’ 2011 season remains one of the greatest by a quarterback, as he posted a record-setting 122.5 passer rating.
Rodgers is coming off a strong season in Pittsburgh, completing 65.7% of his passes for 3,322 yards, 24 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while helping lead the Steelers to an AFC North title. If he hopes to end his career with another championship run, the path through the AFC remains as difficult as ever.
As for what to expect for this season, our Ralph Vacchiano predicted that the Steelers would go 8-9 in 2026 following Thursday’s schedule release. Vacchiano added that he believes that the “Steelers’ season is riding on the old shoulders of Aaron Rodgers.”
“Whoever their quarterback is will immediately have a tougher challenge if Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow can stay healthy, making the AFC North games much more of a minefield,” Vacchiano wrote. “The Steelers also have to go on the road to New England and Philadelphia, and even their trip to Jacksonville won’t be easy. Playing the NFC South and AFC South gives them plenty of soft spots in the schedule. But finishing first last season gave them their division’s toughest schedule. Given their fragile state, stuck between contending and rebuilding, that’s not much of a prize.”
Does Mike McCarthy need Aaron Rodgers to succeed with the Steelers?
Vacchiano also had the Steelers drop to No. 25 in his most recent power rankings after the schedule announcement.
“Seven of their last nine games are against teams projected to win 9-11 games. Aaron Rodgers’ 42-year-old body should be aching pretty good by then,” Vacchiano wrote.
But the stage is now set for one final chapter in Pittsburgh under a familiar coach. When the clock finally hits triple zeros on No. 12’s career, one of the greatest careers for a quarterback in NFL history will come to an end.
