- - Was that it for Aaron Rodgers? QB's retirement call looms after reality check

Jarrett Bell, USA TODAYJanuary 13, 2026 at 1:18 AM

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Thanks for the memories, Aaron Rodgers.

If that was it, the last hurrah in a 21-year career that will ultimately be stamped with a Hall of Fame induction, you surely deserved a better send-off than the pounding inflicted by the Houston Texans on Monday night.

Then again, it was fitting enough.

No, the season of hope for Rodgers with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he joined forces with the likes of Mike Tomlin, Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt, didn’t quite turn out to produce a made-for-Hollywood ending.

But at least he gave it a shot.

Sure, the standard is the standard. For a man with four NFL MVP awards and a Super Bowl title on his resume (even if it was 15 years ago), making a cameo appearance in the NFL playoffs was undoubtedly half-empty.

It was fair enough. If there was going to be some magical, turn-back-the-clock run in these unpredictable NFL playoffs, the 42-year-old legend had to start by beating a team that includes a gang of maulers who formulate arguably the league’s best defense.

Turns out, that was way too much to ask.

Instead, Rodgers was issued a cruel reality check from the Texans – who turned two Rodgers turnovers into second-half touchdowns to add insult to the 30-6 shellacking in the AFC wild-card playoff game.

Maybe this was the takeaway message from the Texans: Go ahead, just retire already.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers fumbles as he is hit by the Houston Texans' Will Anderson Jr. The Texans' Sheldon Rankins (90) returned the fumble for a touchdown as Houston went on to a 30-6 wild-card playoff win at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026.

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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers fumbles as he is hit by the Houston Texans' Will Anderson Jr. The Texans' Sheldon Rankins (90) returned the fumble for a touchdown as Houston went on to a 30-6 wild-card playoff win at Acrisure Stadium on Jan. 12, 2026.

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1 / 28Quarterback Aaron Rodgers through the yearsAaron Rodgers played football at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, California from 1998 to 2001. During his junior and senior seasons as starting quarterback, Rodgers amassed 4,419 passing yards while helping the Vikings to a 17-7 mark.

Too bad. Maybe the last throw Rodgers will ever make as an active NFL quarterback was intercepted by Calen Bullock and returned 50 yards for a pick-six with just under three minutes to play.

Mercy Rule stuff, indeed.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, Rodgers, who operated for much of the night with all the space afforded in a phone booth, fumbled as he was pummeled in a collapsing pocket. Sheldon Rankins snatched up the football and rumbled 31 yards with a big-man TD return.

Add other images of frustration – the sacks, misfires, miscommunication with receivers, DK Metcalf’s drop – and the net effect was something that probably led many viewers of the prime-time broadcast to cover their eyes.

Or maybe turn off the TV. After a full slate of nail-biters over the weekend to open the NFL playoffs, it seemed especially cruel that Rodgers went down in the pure beatdown of a blowout – the Steelers were outscored 23-zip in the fourth quarter – rather than with some last-minute drama.

It was not the ideal way for Rodgers to be remembered. He couldn’t even lead the Steelers to a touchdown – the first time that’s happened for Rodgers in the playoffs – and converting on third downs was almost as challenging. On a night the franchise lost a seventh consecutive postseason game, he was not the savior to reverse that pattern.

Rodgers couldn’t run, couldn’t hide and certainly could not compete like he used to as dominant D-linemen Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Denico Autrey and Rankins kept messing up the plan. Rodgers was sacked four times and finished with a 50.8 passer rating. And it was worse than those numbers suggest.

Hey, not every legend rides off like John Elway, in a hail of Super Bowl confetti. Most, like Rodgers, have to go out the hard way, reminded of how far removed they are from their prime.

Of course, Rodgers hasn’t definitively declared that this it and he will retire. Understandably, in the immediate aftermath of Monday night’s game, he would not as much as acknowledge that his brutal evening – and the collapse was hardly all on the quarterback – would affect the decision about his future.

“No, I’m not going to make any emotional decisions,” Rodgers said. “Disappointed, obviously. It was such a fun year. A lot of adversity. But a lot of fun. It’s been a great year, you know, obviously in my life, and this is really a good part of that, you know, coming here and being a part of this team. So, it’s disappointing to be sitting here with the season over.”

Stay tuned. If you’ve followed Rodgers’ saga, you realize that it could a while – weeks, perhaps months –before he makes a decision on whether to return. While he sent signals early on, after joining the Steelers in June, that he was likely in his final season, he has more recently softened that stance and left the door open to playing the back half of his two-year contract in 2026.

There were notable victories, for sure. Rodgers led the Steelers to the AFC North crown, even if it was enabled by a missed field goal on the last snap of the NFL’s final regular-season game. He made it back to the postseason for the first time in four years. And in a violent occupation, where participants are often carted off or hobble off on crutches, Rodgers, two seasons removed from a torn Achilles, walked off the field at Acrisure Stadium on his own power.

In any event, he can take all of that with him to a darkness retreat as his retirement decision again begs for deep contemplation.

Last year, Rodgers didn’t officially commit to joining the Steelers until June, after weeks of courting by Tomlin. Now a decision includes the perspective of meshing within a Steelers culture that is such a contrast to what he experienced in two seasons with the New York Jets.

Even so, there’s the matter of whether he has the desire to try it again.

Surely, Rodgers doesn’t want to go out like Monday night. Yet he should also realize that if he decides to come back, next time might be even worse.

Contact Jarrett Bell at [email protected] or follow on X: @JarrettBell

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Aaron Rodgers' retirement call looms after Steelers' reality check

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