Aaron Rodgers will begin his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers—and what he says will likely be his final season overall—with a Week 1 matchup against the team with which he spent the last two years, the New York Jets. But there's much more anticipation for his Week 8 battle against the team with which he spent the first 18 years of his career, that, of course, being the Green Bay Packers.
As unceremonious as his exit from Green Bay was, there's no getting around the fact that he's arguably the greatest quarterback in Packers history. Yes, Brett Favre fans, we know that's not what you want to hear, but that's why we said arguably. And please forgive us, Bart Starr fans, but No. 15 is No. 3, even with more titles. But I digress.
As the Jets and Packers failed to meet during Rodgers' two-year stint with Gang Green, the four-time NFL MVP will get his first and likely only shot at Green Bay on October 26 on Sunday Night Football. But while it will be wildly entertaining to see the Packers' all-time leader in touchdown passes and passer rating take on his former team, the contest is sadly being played in Pittsburgh.
As such, while Rodgers recently told Packers on SI's Bill Huber that he's excited to see some of his former coaches and teammates, he says he'd be a little more hyped up if the game were taking place at Lambeau Field. This was the same interview, by the way, where he seemed like he was looking to poach a Green Bay receiver. But here's what he had to say about Week 8.
"Yeah, I've thought about it," Rodgers said. "I was thinking maybe coming to Lambeau would be amazing. It'd be strange because I was on the other side of '09 and '10. It won't be as energized, I would say, if we were coming back to Lambeau instead of having the Packers out to Pittsburgh."
Aaron Rodgers plays down matchup vs. Packers but still couldn't resist a Bears jab
The mention of 2009 and 2010, of course, refers to when Favre returned to Green Bay as a member of the rival Minnesota Vikings. Rodgers apparently tried to take that same path before signing with the Steelers, but was shut down with the Vikes ready to move forward with young J.J. McCarthy. So, one would assume the next time Rodgers is at Lambeau will be when his jersey is retired. Yes, that will happen at some point.
With a victory against the Packers, Rodgers would become just the fifth quarterback to defeat all 32 current franchises. And he's well aware of that fact, even if he continued to downplay the matchup a bit.
"It is just another game,” Rodgers said. "Obviously, there's energy around it, kind of outside of yourself, but it doesn't make or break your career. It'll be fun to beat them, for sure, because I would've beaten every team, and because you're trying to win all your games. Either way, it'll be good to see so many people."
Huber then asked him if it was truly "just another game" or if he secretly had any extra motivation to, as he put it, "stick it to [Matt] LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst, just to show that he's still got it at age 41?"
And while Rodgers again stuck to his stance, he couldn't help himself from taking a shot at the Chicago Bears.
"Oh, you know, I want to play good every game," Rodgers said. “There's no extra motivation. I think that's all media narrative. I'm trying to play great every game. You'd love to throw four, five touchdowns every single week. It might mean more in Chicago or whatever, but, at the end of the day, you're trying to play good every single week."
That disdain for the Bears just never goes away, does it? Rodgers famously owned the Monsters of the Midway throughout his career in Green Bay, posting a 24-5 regular-season record against the Packers' longtime rival and picking up a victory in the NFC Championship Game following the 2010 season en route to winning his only Super Bowl.
And as fate would have it, Rodgers will get one more crack at the Bears when the Steelers visit Soldier Field for a Week 12 matchup on Sunday, November 23.