Aaron Rodgers doesn't know he just hinted at the end of Steelers Mike Tomlin era

Aaron Rodgers finally said what we’ve all been thinking about and what he did in front of the world on his buddy, Pat McAfee’s show on ESPN. Rodgers announced his retirement tour in the NFL, claiming it was the reason he signed only a one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. No beating around the bush, he just let it fly.

"I’m pretty sure this is it," Rodgers said. "That’s why we just did a one-year deal. The Steelers didn’t need to put any extra years.

"This is really about finishing with a lot of fun and love and peace," he said. "I've played 20 freakin' years. It's been a long run and I've enjoyed it. No better way to finish than with one of the cornerstone franchises of the NFL, with Mike Tomlin and the Steelers and a city that expects you to win."

What Aaron Rodgers means for Mike Tomlin

With that being said, it’s also possible that Rodgers may have opened the door unknowingly for this being the end of the road for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin as well. The Steelers have never been horrible under Tomlin, but they also haven’t been real Super Bowl contenders in a long time. Couple that with struggling to find a franchise quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger retired and you’ve got a team that’s pretty much stuck in the middle.

Pittsburgh hasn’t been good enough for a deep playoff run in nearly a decade and has not won a postseason game since 2017. They even won 12 games in 2020 but were eliminated in the wild card round. Tomlin’s team has won 10 games in each of the past two seasons and were one-and-done in both of those postseasons.

All good things come to an end

For as good as Tomlin’s been having never finished with a losing record, fans have grown tired of not being able to lock down a suitable QB and overall inept offense. Tomlin’s defenses are usually pretty good and have even been great at times but as the head coach, he gets some blame along with the front office for not bringing in better offensive personnel. Then to gamble on an aging QB in Rodgers who isn't two years removed from the biggest injury in his career, sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Now we arrive at the Aaron Rodgers era in Pittsburgh and it could end up being the last straw for Tomlin in the Steel City. No one expects too much out of Rodgers and if they win less than nine games marking the first losing campaign for Tomlin, it could be enough to force a change or force Tomlin’s hand to walk away before things fall apart completely. The only guarantee with Rodgers at this point is that he’s finally going to hang up his cleats and it’ll be interesting to see if Tomlin hangs up his headset too.