Steelers' Aaron Rodgers Blasts Fans For Wanting Mike Tomlin Fired: "Absolute Joke"

The Pittsburgh Steelers had yet another playoff collapse as they gave up 23 unanswered points in a 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans. Everything that could go wrong in the fourth quarter did. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was signed to get the team over the hump, but he just reinforced narratives about this team's failures in January. During the game, it was reported that he most likely will be retiring from the NFL, and he went out in such a rough way. That game was so infuriating for Steeler Nation, but not shocking. 

During his postgame press conference, Rodgers took some time to call out the fan base for wanting Head Coach Mike Tomlin fired. In fact, he took a lot of time to go off.

"The league has changed a lot, like 21 years," Rodgers said. "When I first got in the league, there wouldn't be conversation about whether [Mike Tomlin and Matt LaFleur] were on the hot seat, but the way that the league is covered now and the way that there's snap decisions and the validity given to Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the h*ll they're talking about. To me, that's an absolute joke, and for either of those two guys to be on the hot seat is really an apropos of where we're at as a society and a league."

Rodgers clearly heard all the "Fire Tomlin" chants from Week 13, as well as those chants as angry fans left Acrisure Stadium after the loss in the Wild Card game. It's obvious that people are furious with the state of the team as it keeps running through this cycle of mediocrity that seems to have no end. From inside the locker room, the quarterback sees a much different coach than what many other fans see, clearly. 

Rodgers continued on to talk about why he thinks bashing Tomlin is a terrible thing for the fans to do, as well as why firing him is a bad idea.

"Mike T has had more success than d**n near anybody else in the league for the last 19, 20 years," Rodgers explained. "And more than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don't think about making a change, but there's a lot of pressure that comes from the outside, and obviously, that sways decisions from time to time, but it's not how I would do things and not how the league used to be."

Like many other Steelers players, Tomlin is seen as a leader of men that can motivate any group. However, many fans are simply tired of not being as competitive and championship-worthy as this franchise once was. 

There's an ongoing narrative of coaching vs execution, but at the end of the day, many fans believe the buck ultimately stops with the head coach, and the season results in recent years are simply not up to snuff.

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Of course, the two have been very close since the offseason, when Tomlin was patiently waiting for Rodgers to make his decision. He chose to come to Pittsburgh, and they have bonded throughout the 2025 campaign, so there is likely a special friendship between them. Neither of them ever had anything bad to say about the other, and they end the year as great friends. 

What do you think about Rodgers calling out Steeler Nation for calling for Tomlin to be fired? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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