Mike McCarthy is the throughline in the blockbuster picture coming to Sunday Night Football.
A Pittsburgh native who lives in Green Bay. A Packers legend who bleeds green and gold and led them to Super Bowl glory against the Steelers, no less. But his Packers career will forever be tied to Aaron Rodgers, who stands on the enemy sideline this weekend.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, McCarthy announced that he will be in attendance at Acrisure Stadium in what is now known as the "McCarthy Bowl." His prediction for the game made it feel even more big-time.
"First off, you guys are awesome because you communicated so well that this is actually a 'McCarthy Bowl,' so now I've been invited to this one," McCarthy said. "I think it's going to be a hell of a game. Just fall ball back in Pittsburgh. The Packers coming to town. I think it's going to be an incredible setting."
"I think it's a pick 'em. I'm going back to the old pigskin games. I don't even know what the line is, don't want to know what the line is. I think this is going to be a hell of a football game."
It's poetic that Mike McCarthy will attend Packers-Aaron Rodgers showdown
It's likely a once-in-a-lifetime contest between Rodgers and the Packers. Barring a Super Bowl rematch, this is almost certainly it. So it's only fitting that McCarthy is there.
McCarthy truly is the throughline of this matchup.
Pittsburgh hasn't been kind to him during his head coaching career — his Packers team never won there. It's where Jordy Nelson tore his ACL, where Brett Hundley fell heartbreakingly short of a miracle upset.
But it's also McCarthy's home. His Packers coaching staff was made up of Pennsylvania natives: Tom Clements, Alex Van Pelt, Luke Getsy, Ben McAdoo. The list goes on.
RELATED: Packers' Matt LaFleur sets the record straight on Aaron Rodgers-Jordan Love myth
Yet Green Bay has become his home away from home. It's where his kids were born, and it's where McCarthy lives today, just a stone's throw away from his very own Mike McCarthy Way. In 2022, before his return to Lambeau as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy got emotional when asked what he missed about Green Bay.
Now, it's Rodgers, the most successful graduate of the Mike McCarthy Quarterback School, leading his hometown Steelers against his beloved Packers. They won 100 games together in the regular season and nine more in the playoffs, including Super Bowl XLV against, poetically, Mike Tomlin's Steelers.
This game has everything. Aaron Rodgers, the mentor, versus Jordan Love, the student. Two historic franchises.
But McCarthy is the throughline, and it's fitting that he will attend what promises to be footballing cinema. Listen to any quote from McCarthy or Rodgers about Green Bay, and the common theme is love.
Ironically, the Packers hope it's Love that wins at the end of this SNF epic.