When Aaron Rodgers signed his contract with the Steelers before minicamp, this is the kind of game he envisioned.
"I've been a part of a locker room the last couple years where you get to December and you start talking about your offseason plans, where you'll be, your travel plans. That's not a whole lot of fun," Rodgers said after Wednesday's practice. "You want to be in here talking about the game, talking about meaningful snaps, talking about doing something special. And it starts with this week against Baltimore."
The Steelers have won three of their last four games and put themselves in position if they beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night they will clinch the AFC North championship.
"We would've taken it for sure," Rodgers said after the team was 6-6 a month ago.
The Steelers are coming off a loss at Cleveland last week, and Rodgers had a passer rating of 64.9. But in three other games this season, he's bounced back from similar ratings with winning performances. The Steelers bounced back with wins over New England (96.1), Cincinnati (106.5), and Baltimore (103.1).
In the last 11 games in which Rodgers has compiled a passer rating of less than 70, he's bounced back to quarterback a win 10 times.
"You've seen my career; I don't have a lot of stinkers back-to-back over the years," he said. "So, it's the same mindset every week, same approach, just expect greatness. When it doesn't happen, you don't shift up the plan. You just keep on going and trust the process."
Rodgers went into "the process" of bouncing back.
"There's a lot of beauty in the mundane," he said. "The mundane is the Monday to Saturday where you can actually win games. I embrace that part of the job. I've loved it. That's why I'm still here, still playing. Obviously, the icing on the cake is game day, but Monday to Saturday is where you win games."
One of Rodgers' best games this season was the Steelers' previous game against the Ravens, a 27-22 win in which Rodgers passed for a season-high 284 yards.
Has he played the kind of football he's wanted to play this season?
"At times, yeah, definitely," he said. "Anytime you're in a first-year offense, there are always some growing pains within the offense. You always feel like if you had another year what you could do. And I look at 2019, the way I played in 2019, and then kind of the adjustments we made the offseason, and in the way I played in 2020, which was just in a whole kind of different level.
"I was a game manager in 2019 and a game impactor in 2020 and 2021, and I think a lot of that's just familiarity with the offense and with the guys. And we've done the best we could with our conversations in our meeting time outside the facility, and our meeting time in the facility. But, obviously, the more years you get in a system with the same guys, the more continuity you have, the better you feel like you can play."
That's what has him excited to continue the season beyond Sunday night.
"It's a special feeling to be able to play on that Sunday night slot for all-or-nothing," he said, "and a lot easier when you're playing at home."
