Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers are at a crossroads heading into the bye week, and the answer is sitting right in front of them.
Pittsburgh has found something real on the ground. Since Week 3, the Steelers have led the NFL in EPA per rush at 0.12, with no other team above 0.06. They’ve built an identity around power football, packing the line of scrimmage with extra offensive linemen and burly tight ends and leaning on Jaylen Warren to drive the offense.
That part is working. The other part still looks stuck in Rodgers’ comfort zone.
Even with the Steelers’ run game carrying the load, Rodgers keeps drifting back toward the quick, spread-out style he’s long preferred, especially near the goal line. Since Week 3, Pittsburgh ranks fifth in pass rate and fifth in 11-personnel rate in the red zone.
In other words, when the field shrinks and the scoring chances get tight, the Steelers keep opening things up and throwing it around. The result has been predictable: a bottom-six touchdown rate on red-zone trips.
That’s the tension Rodgers has to confront during the bye. Pittsburgh has been effective for most of the field, but the offense keeps hitting a wall once it gets close.
The issue isn’t whether the Steelers can move the ball. It’s whether Rodgers can give up the familiar structure he’s most comfortable running and let the team lean even harder into what’s actually producing.
There’s no mystery about the path forward. The Steelers are the most effective rushing offense in the league, yet they’re still running the ball at a bottom-ten rate. They’re split between two identities, and only one of them has really worked.
If Pittsburgh wants to fully commit to “three yards and a cloud of dust” football, the bye week is the time to make that call. The source material even points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who won a game in a storm without completing a single pass, as an example of how far a team can go when it trusts the run.
Mike McCarthy doesn’t need to go that extreme, but the message is clear: if the Steelers are serious about becoming a contender, they need to stop fighting what’s already working.
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Steelers Trade Deadline Push Comes With One Costly WR Trap
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The problem is that the receiver market rarely rewards patience, and the Steelers have to weigh immediate help against what it would cost to land it. Downs offers a tidy fit, McConkey brings a different kind of versatility, and Thomas has the most intriguing ceiling, but Pittsburgh has to be careful not to let urgency override the long view when the price tags start climbing and the roster-building math gets less friendly. [Read more 🡒]