Aaron Rodgers pushes back on retirement rumors following win over Baltimore

The Pittsburgh Steelers are moving on to the NFL playoffs after holding on to beat the Baltimore Ravens in heart-stopping fashion on Sunday Night Football. And with that, the career for quarterback Aaron Rodgers will extend at least one more game.

Of course, despite the fact that the Steelers won and will play next weekend, the question about Rodgers’ future was front and center on the mind of many viewers. NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark knew it.

So when she asked Aaron Rodgers about what he was feeling as the team clinched the division, she was also cued in on his response. And she asked an immediate follow-up about his future.

“It’s pretty emotional, honestly,” Rodgers said. “It’s been a great year. I’m thankful for these guys and I’m excited to be going to the playoffs for the first time in a long while.”

Aaron Rodgers was clearly a bit emotional as he spoke, fidgeting with his beanie and looking around the field. Stark pounced.

“Does that mean that you’re riding off into the sunset after this?” she asked. Will he retire?

“No, I’m just, it’s been a grinding year,” Rodgers explained, fending off the question. “And the two years before that were tough as well. So it’s been an absolute blessing to be here with these fans and this organization and Mike [Tomlin] and the leadership that we’ve got with these guys.

“I think we found that little bit of something special, which is belief, tonight on the offensive side. And I’m proud of our guys with the way we responded in the fourth quarter.”

It was a crazy game. The teams traded blown coverages in the fourth quarter, allowing each to take the lead.

Pittsburgh appeared to have it won after Aaron Rodgers found Calvin Austin on a 26-yard strike to the left side of the end zone. But then kicker Chris Boswell botched the extra point, leaving the score 26-24.

Rodgers had to watch from the sideline as the Ravens quickly drove into short field goal range. Once again, though, kicking proved costly. Tyler Loop missed as time expired, giving Rodgers and the Steelers one more game, at least.

“That sucks. That’s the worst part of this game,” Rodgers said of watching the Ravens’ final drive. “I’d rather have the ball in my hand. We haven’t made it easy for ourselves most of the year, but it was a huge lift having [Cameron Heyward] come back. This guy had a great pregame talk that got us focused. On offense, we didn’t handle our business in the first half, but the second half we came out with a different focus. When we had to have points we went down and scored.”