Mike Tannenbaum doubts Pittsburgh Steelers can win a playoff game with Aaron Rodgers

With or without Aaron Rodgers, the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to have to make a push for their first playoff win in eight years this season. But even with him on the roster as of his signing to start this month, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum doesn’t think it’s coming.

Tannenbaum was asked on ‘Get Up’ on Friday if he was convinced that Rodgers would lead the Steelers to their first postseason win since 2017. He was not at all assured in that, considering the age and decline of their new quarterback, as well as their current standing in their division in the AFC North.

“No,” Tannenbaum said. “(Rodgers) is going to be 42 in December, no offseason program. And, best-case scenario? They are the third-best offense in their division when you think about, you know, all of the other firepower in the AFC North. I give him a lot of credit for coming back one more time. I just don’t see this working by the end of the season.”

If the Steelers want to accomplish any of that, they’ll need a better version of Rodgers than he has been the past three seasons. Since being NFL MVP in back-to-back seasons, Rodgers has played two full years of the last three with the Packers and Jets.

In that time, Rodgers posted a 63.8% completion rate for 223.3 yards per game, 54 passing touchdowns, and 23 interceptions. That has represented a decline in his play going into the age of 39, with a torn Achilles over that same span also not helping.

Still, even if Rodgers is better, Pittsburgh also isn’t guaranteed to make it at all into the NFL Playoffs. They’ve lost four games in the Wild Card round over those seven seasons, but in the other three, they missed the postseason outright despite having a .500 or better record. That’s the kind of competition they’ll be playing for a spot against both in the AFC North and as a whole in the AFC.

ESPN says health, playoff win is success for Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers

Ryan Clark and Dan Graziano, among others, debated what would equal a successful season for Pittsburgh in 2025 with two boxes they needed checked, earlier this week on ‘Get Up.’ Clark began the segment saying he was looking for at least one playoff win, if not more, from the Steelers while Rodgers individually had to stay healthy and be a little more productive in the pass game.

“I mean, first thing is health. I think, secondly, it would be Aaron Rodgers playing above average in the pass game this entire season. And getting this team past the first round of the playoffs,” Clark determined. “We know that Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled to get one playoff win in almost over a decade, in almost a decade. So, for Aaron Rodgers to come in there and to lead that thing that pushes them over the top in a Wild Card game, gets them to the Divisional Round of the playoff, maybe even an ACF Championship? To me, that’s the ceiling for this team and that would constitute success. And it wouldn’t be one of those situations where we’re expecting them to win it all.”

Graziano also agreed when it came to this season, especially when it came to the first playoff win since 2017 for Pittsburgh. However, he thinks if things go south for the Steelers, it would be just as good for them to be unsuccessful. That would lead to a losing record and, with that, a draft pick that could get them out of this spot moving forward.

“I think the two years with the Jets reminded us where he is in his career, which is certainly not at the beginning or the middle. And he gets hurt and misses a full season and then he has the ups and downs of last year,” Graziano said. “So, yes, I think that, if you’re the Steelers and you’re Aaron Rodgers? I feel like the fanbase, and I don’t like to speak for a fanbase. But it seems to me that the only way they’d be happy is a playoff run or, like, they stink and they can draft whoever they want next year at quarterback. I feel like those are the two outcomes if you’re a Steelers fan and you’re hoping for one of them.”