Mike McCarthy coached quarterback Aaron Rodgers for nearly 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. The union ended on a sour note with McCarthy fired midseason in 2018. But after initially wondering if that could prevent Rodgers from returning to the Pittsburgh Steelers for 2026, pundits haven’t speculated the McCarthy-Rodgers relationship as an issue.
Well, at least most pundits haven’t.
Go Long’s Tyler Dunne did while appearing on 93.7 The Fan on Monday. He shared that a source familiar with both Rodgers and McCarthy didn’t see the two pairing up with the Steelers as a good idea.
“[The source said] they’ll be at each other’s throats and fighting in no time,” Dunne said on 93.7 The Fan, via Steelers Now’s Brendan Howe. “And he saw this up close, so I’m sure they’ll say all the right things if they are rejoining forces here, and who knows, there will be good times.
“But the season is a marathon, look across the AFC, look in your own division. It’s hard to see this ending well for any party involved.”
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Rodgers came to finish his NFL career with the Steelers in large part because of Mike Tomlin. When Tomlin departed in January, it seemed unlikely Rodgers would return for 2026.
But the Steelers then surprisingly hired McCarthy. There arguably isn’t a stronger link in the NFL to Rodgers.
The quarterback won his first two MVP awards and the Super Bowl while playing for McCarthy.
But toward the end of McCarthy’s tenure in Green Bay, there was reportedly friction between the head coach and quarterback. The team repeatedly fell short in the postseason from 2011-16. In 2018, the Packers bottomed out with a 6-9-1 record
“It was bad,” Dunne added of the final McCarthy-Rodgers season in Green Bay. “We’re talking seven, seven and a half years ago, so it’s been a while. As time passes, maybe the heart grows fonder.
“The analogies that we’ve kicked around at Go Long, it’s middle-aged man on Facebook, looking up the old high school flame, out of options, not really sure where to turn.”
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