The NFL posted a photo of Aaron Rodgers in Steelers gear, and the internet did what the internet does.
The image dropped Wednesday alongside a caption that read “One last ride for @AaronRodgers12.” It confirmed what everyone already assumed: the 2026 season will be Rodgers’ 22nd and final year as an NFL quarterback. The Steelers signed him this offseason, and Pittsburgh is where he is going to write the last chapter.
Then the jokes started.
Rodgers is 42 years old. He looks 42 years old. The photo showed him smiling in black and gold, but the years of playing quarterback in the NFL are all over his face. Fans immediately compared him to being in his 70s. Others made cracks about senior flag football leagues. Somebody tweeted that he looked like he was announcing his retirement from a Cracker Barrel.
None of it is really about how Rodgers actually looks. It is about the vibe. Rodgers has been the polarizing quarterback of his generation for at least a decade. Fans of every team not called the Packers, Jets, or now Steelers have been waiting for the chance to send him off with a proper roast, and Wednesday’s photo dropped the door wide open.
The Steelers have to hope the whole thing plays out better on the field than it did on social media. Pittsburgh signed Rodgers to a one-year deal in the spring after cycling through Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, Kenny Pickett, and every combination of “let’s see what this guy can do” that has plagued them since Ben Roethlisberger retired. Rodgers is the plan. He is also the last plan they can afford before this becomes a full rebuild.
On paper, the fit is decent. Rodgers gets a physical, tough offensive line and a running game that will take pressure off him. The defense is still one of the better units in the AFC. And Mike Tomlin has spent a decade dragging middling rosters to nine-win seasons, which is exactly what a 42-year-old quarterback needs behind him.
The problem is Rodgers still needs to be Rodgers. The version we saw with the Jets was slow, off-balance, and clearly playing through injuries. He was better late in the year, but nobody in the AFC is scared of him the way they were in Green Bay. Pittsburgh needs him to hit 4,000 yards and take care of the football, and that is not a given.
His new wife Brittani apparently told him to give it one more shot. He also brought DK Metcalf with him to Pittsburgh via trade. The organization is clearly building around the idea that this will work, at least for one season, and the marketing has been on point since June.
The Year 22 photo is now part of that same push. The NFL wants Rodgers moments to matter. Fans want to make fun of him one more time. Everybody gets what they want.
Kickoff is in three weeks. Then the internet gets a whole new batch of material.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
