Tomlin, Rodgers sticking it to the haters with late-season surge

Let me say right up front: I didn't believe in Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In fairness, almost no one did, including many of those in Pittsburgh.

After a dispiriting prime-time loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10, the Steelers were muddling along at 5-4. Later in the season, a frustrated home crowd chanted for head coach Mike Tomlin to be fired. Meanwhile, the coach himself sounded like he wanted to fire Rodgers. The team seemed mired in mediocrity: not bad enough to bottom out and rebuild, but not dangerous enough to threaten the AFC's best clubs.

And at the heart of the Steelers' woes was the quarterback position. In a league where a dynamic playmaker under center is pretty much a necessity, Pittsburgh kept trotting out stopgap solutions over the years. Rodgers, now 42 and with a reconstructed Achilles tendon, is long past his dynamic days. But nor is he terrible. If the idea was to win between eight and 10 games, he was an inspired choice.

As the season reached the halfway mark, that was the problem: shouldn't the Steelers be aiming higher than their perpetual decency? After all, they hadn't won a playoff game in eight seasons.

Six weeks later, the narrative has changed. Three straight wins have pushed the Steelers to 9-6, making them heavy favourites to win the AFC North and get a home playoff game. Tomlin will avoid a losing record for a 19th consecutive campaign, a metaphorical finger in the eye to those who have been clamouring for a teardown and rebuild. And Rodgers, the wily old coot, has averaged 258 passing yards over those last three wins, along with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

In a season marked by disastrous quarterback play across the NFL - looking at you, New York and Las Vegas - Rodgers has at least made the case that having someone who's baseline competent at the position is a platform on which to build.

The question is whether there are still more heights to reach. Has Pittsburgh hit its ceiling, or is it capable of being a scary playoff team?

Having already admitted to previously being wrong about the Steelers, they remain not entirely convincing.

Almost a month ago, they were walloped at home by a Buffalo Bills squad that hasn't exactly dominated itself - a loss that incited the aforementioned "Fire Tomlin" pleas. Pittsburgh bounced back with a nice road win in Baltimore, but that victory has lost some of its luster as the Ravens have unraveled behind a compromised Lamar Jackson.

The Steelers then beat a Miami Dolphins team that was in the process of imploding - Pittsburgh fans might argue that they pushed the detonator. This past Sunday, they pulled out a win over Detroit, benefitting from a couple of questionable last-minute offensive pass-interference calls against the Lions. Had neither of those flags been thrown and Detroit grabbed the late victory, the Steelers would be 8-7 and looking like a group that can't quite beat good opponents.

But there's also a glass-half-full case for the Lions win. Pittsburgh went on the road to face a preseason favorite that was desperately fighting for its playoff life and built a 12-point lead before Detroit rallied in the fourth quarter. Sure, maybe there was some good fortune at the end, but the victory wasn't a fluke.

Weirdly, the Cleveland Browns should provide a good test for Pittsburgh on Sunday. While that might seem like a strange thing to say about a 3-12 team enduring another season of crisis, Cleveland's defense has at times been dangerous, especially against quarterbacks who don't move around much. That describes Rodgers in 2025, and one can imagine a scenario in which Myles Garrett, in pursuit of the all-time single-season sack record, relentlessly chases him for three hours in an effort to make history.

And DK Metcalf's two-game suspension for an altercation with a Lions fan leaves Rodgers without his favorite target and best receiving threat.

But as the Steelers have gone on this mini-resurgence, they appear to have figured out an identity. They have a two-headed running game with Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, both of whom are also dangerous pass-catchers. Although Rodgers may be a long way from the guy who used to roll away from pressure and casually fling a 50-yard dart downfield in Green Bay, he still knows how to read a defense and fire off nice passes a few times a game. It'll be hard to argue that bringing him in was pointless if Pittsburgh wins the division.

Even if the Steelers become AFC North champions, questions about next season's plans will persist. However, they could rightly tell the doubters, myself included, to shut it for a bit.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.