Can Rodgers and McCarthy make things work?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms discuss Aaron Rodgers reuniting with Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh and dissect if both sides will be able to make things work with the Steelers.
Video Transcript
I really do think Rodgers knows, "I've got to be here.
I've got to reacquaint myself with Mike McCarthy."
If you treat it as a reunion And, you know, sometimes when you get back together with someone that you spent a lot of time with, you focus on the good, and you appreciate that person.
You find ways to accentuate the positivity- Totally that was in that relationship.
That's right.
And they did win a Super Bowl together against the Steelers.
Yeah.
Which is, like, topic 25.
Like, that's a pretty big deal.
Think about it.
The last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl, they lost to Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers.
And now, 16 years later, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers are joining forces with the Steelers.
That's a hell of a story, but it's been buried in all the what the hell is going on.
So he, he I think he recognizes.
And, and maybe this is a sign of growth and maturity- Yeah, hopefully and he is in his 40s now.
Maybe he can set aside the things that bugged him about Mike McCarthy after 13 years, and just focus on joining forces to have the best possible season.
And you're right, there is an opening there.
The Browns have a new coach.
The Ravens have a new coach.
The Bills have a new coach.
Patrick Mahomes is coming off of the ACL.
Right.
There is a vibe that the AFC is unsettled, and if a team can really hit the ground sprinting, it can assert itself, and it can put itself in position to maybe get past the wild card round, something the Steelers haven't done in 10 years.
Yeah.
You're, you're And y- you know, you're right.
The, the AFC right now as it stands, you kind of look at it and go, "Eh."
It's a collection of quarterbacks.
The NFC feels like it has more of the teams, more of the complete teams, more depth that way, can beat you different ways, where the AFC feels like it's a little more quarterback-reliant.
There's definitely that.
You bring up the coach thing and the relationship with McCarthy, and I hear you.
I mean, again, that, I think that's a pretty common tale, right?
It is.
I, I, I would I, I could tell you, I mean, speaking from my dad w- was at, at the end of Bill Parcells with the Giants, where there, you know, my dad probably, "Oh gosh, Bill.
Oh gosh, Bill."
But then, like, a year goes by without Bill Parcells, and you realize, damn, Bill was awesome.
Everything he did was awesome, right?
I mean, Joe Montana and Bill Walsh were kind of going at each other's throats there for a little while, but then you get done and you go to the, "Gosh damn, man, we were, we were the best when we went at each other's throats.
That's what pushed us."
Right?
Magic Johnson got sick of Pat Riley a little bit because Pat was always like, "Let's go more, more, more, more.
I don't care that we won by 30."
But then it gets done, you're gonna go, "Damn," you know?
"Yeah, that was tough when we were going through it, but it was a special time, and he made us better 'cause he was tough."
And I think there could be some appreciation there with Mike McCarthy and Rodgers, no matter how it ended.
At least he'll look back at it and go, "Man, we had some special times.
We really did."
Like you said, won a Super Bowl, NFC Championship games.
NFC Championship games they had no business being in sometimes because of great game plans, and then Aaron Rodgers just being so awesome and b- upsetting some team in the divisional round to get there.
Now, he's not that player anymore, and this is where, yeah, their team He needs to make sure the team is functioning at a high level.
You got a young offensive line.
You got your young West Virginia center.
They just moved a, a young lineman over to the left tackle position.
They just drafted a rookie right tackle.
You got Jeremy Bernard coming in, who's got talent from Alabama, who's a weapon.
You wanna be at your best.
Like you're saying it right.
You gotta lay it down now.
You gotta get on top of this stuff so everybody knows your language, how you operate, the voice inflection, when it's real, don't jump, blah, blah, blah.
And hopefully that's where they can get to work and, and be a better football team this year.
And he loves Zach Frazier, who grew up- Yeah just about 20 minutes up the road from where I'm sitting.
He went on and on after the season about how great Zach Frazier is and how z- great he can be.
And, you know, the other side of it, too, this is how he's going to be remembered.
This is his last year, I firmly believe.
Mm-hmm.
Back when the Steelers were confident that he was gonna be back, the, the next thought was this will be his last year.
Now, who knows at the end of the day what he's gonna do?
Because if it ends with a pick six again, maybe you do wanna come back for one more year.
But I think he needs to approach it as this is the last impression.
You know, first impressions are important.
Last impressions are as important, because that is how you'll be remembered by everyone, everyone in the locker room, everyone in the media, everyone on the coaching staff, everyone in the front office, all the Steelers fans.
He will be remembered by how he conducts himself this year, what we see and what we don't see, what we hear and what we don't hear, and the things that may trickle out after he's gone.
And I just think to the extent that he's got a lot of younger players in that locker room who are gonna be looking at him.
I think that he needs to understand the responsibility.
Yeah.
You know, I said at one point, why would Mike McCarthy want him in a position where he can roll his eyes, and when McCarthy leaves the room, he can say whatever he wants to say about McCarthy?
I think that the best way to handle this is to take the high road- Yeah, totally.
Totally and embrace McCarthy- Yes and help McCarthy.
Right.
Because by helping McCarthy, he helps himself.
Yes.
And I think that that's all tied together here.
And look, w- it makes it interesting because when adversity strikes, and it always does, will you be able to hold that together?
You walk into it thinking, "All right.
All right.
I'm not gonna let this thing go sideways.
I'm gonna be on my best behavior.
It's for the greater good.
I'm gonna put up with all the things that bother me."
And it's easy to say that on the way through the door.
It's never better than it is on the first day.
Once things get a little hectic, once a little pressure comes up, once those things that bother you start to accumulate, are you gonna be able to hold character?
That's gonna be the question-For Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers.
If he walks through the door committed to having the best possible final season of his career that he can, it's one thing to do it now, it's another thing to work through it when you're going through the schedule one week at a time, playing the games, dealing with the, the aches and pains, fighting through injury, fighting through disappointment.
McCarthy said or did something you don't like, can you internalize that and still hold to this idea, "This is my last season and this is how I'm gonna be remembered, and I wanna be remembered in the best possible light"?
I, I hope so.
I hope that's what it is.
Yeah, he needs to s- he needs to, to be the positive pop- propaganda guy in the locker room.
Get everybody believing.
Like we always talk about, I mean, belief is just so important in the NFL, in the NFL season.
And again, you could play the two worst teams to start the league, start the season, and go 2-0.
It doesn't matter.
Even if they're the two worst teams and you beat them, you still come back and, "Hey, we're good.
We're playing good football here."
You, you The players can lie to themselves like that.
But yeah, lay it down now.
This is it.
This is it.
Well, I mean, we really thought last year was it.
I mean, Tirico at one point there in late November, whatever game it was, I mean, he, he echoed a, a comment that Rodgers made saying he was on the 18th hole.
So I mean, I think Rodgers thought he was really gonna be done in, in mid-November.
And then the way the year ended and everything you've explained already, I think, yeah, that made him go, "Mm, no, I, I gotta come back.
I, I can't go out like that."
And so we'll see where this goes.
There is potential on the team.
The AFC North is there to be had, definitely.
And you know, you're, you're right because there was a time there you're going, where would If I was Mike McCarthy, I don't know if I'd wanna deal with Aaron Rodgers.
I don't know if I'd want, you know, maybe some of the negative things.
But I think probably they were smart enough to realize probably what you just said.
Does he really wanna come in here and have his last year being dysfunctional and like, and have issues, and be remembered as, you know, the guy that was a jerk to coaches and just couldn't play well, and was grumpy all the time at the end of his career?
And then, you know, all he did was yell at the young players and blah, blah, blah.
Does he really wanna go out like that?
Or do you wanna go out like you're talking about, on, on a high note and where things are positive and good?
And if you're gonna do that, yeah, this is the time to, to start doing that.
So that, that's the positive thing of maturity, like you said earlier, to start the segment.
