Aaron Rodgers has 'full confidence' Steelers will recover to win AFC North following loss to Browns

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2025-12-29

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With a chance to secure an AFC North title, the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn’t close against the 12-loss Cleveland Browns, falling 13-6 on the road.

Pittsburgh flubbed multiple chances in the fourth quarter and drove the ball to the 7-yard line with 29 seconds remaining, but Aaron Rodgers tossed three straight incompletions for Marquez Valdes-Scantling to scuttle the comeback bid.

The loss sets up and winner-take-all division bout with the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18.

Despite the offense putting up just 6 points, 291 yards, and going 3-of-15 on third down, Rodgers is confident heading into the season finale.

“I have full confidence we’ll go home and win next week,” he said, via Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. “Because we’ve done it all season. We’ve handled adversity well. When we had to play our best ball, we did… other than today.”

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Sunday, the Steelers fell behind 10-0 before two second-quarter field goals sliced the deficit to four. In the second half, the Steelers still couldn’t find pay dirt, generating just eight first downs and punting three times. Chris Boswell missed a field goal, and the Steelers then turned it over on downs on the final two possessions.

With DK Metcalf suspended, Calvin Austin III out and Darnell Washington leaving with a broken arm, Rodgers’ pass-catching corps lacked playmakers. Pat Freiermuth led the Steelers with 63 yards on three catches. No other Steelers player had more than 25 yards receiving.

In part due to the lack of weapons, and partly trying to mitigate Myles Garrett‘s presence, Rodgers repeatedly got rid of the ball quickly. Per Next Gen Stats, Rodgers averaged a time to throw of 2.39 seconds, the quickest by any qualified quarterback against the Browns this season. He completed 16 of 24 quick attempts for 114 yards. When holding the ball longer than 2.5 seconds, Rodgers completed only 5 of 13 passes for 54 yards.

Despite the struggles, the Steelers had a shot late to finally find the end zone. Rodgers drove the Steelers to the doorstep, but couldn’t connect with MVS three straight times. On the final pass, the quarterback believes Denzel Ward committed a penalty.

“That was definitely interference,” Rodgers said.

With no flag dropped, the Steelers (9-7) head home to face the Ravens (8-8) with the AFC North on the line.