Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers pushed to play through a significant injury in Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, and he may have been in a salty mood when he was unable to make that happen.
Rodgers suffered a small fracture in his left wrist when multiple defenders fell on top of him late in the Steelers’ 34-12 Week 11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Since the injury was to the 41-year-old’s non-throwing hand, he wanted to try to play against the Bears on Sunday.
Roughly two hours before kickoff, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told Evan Washburn of CBS that Rodgers “fought his tail off all week” to play but that Mason Rudolph was going to start in the former NFL MVP’s place.
Rodgers had been spotted walking around at Soldier Field in Chicago before Tomlin shared the big news. According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Rodgers flipped off a couple of photographers before he headed back into the locker room.
Aaron Rodgers arrived at Solider Field about 20 minutes ago, walked one lap around the field, flipped off a couple of the cameras that were filming and went back inside. Used his right hand to flip the bird, so unclear if he could do it with his left. Status for today’s game…
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) November 23, 2025
It is possible Rodgers was just messing with the media. He also may have realized at that point that he wasn’t going to be able to play and decided to showcase his frustrations.
The Steelers improved to 6-4 with their win over the Bengals. They are in first place in the AFC North, but the Baltimore Ravens have won four straight games and are making a charge at 5-5. Pittsburgh needs to play well in the coming weeks to remain in the playoff hunt, and Rodgers knows that.
Rudolph is a capable backup, but Rodgers has played better than many expected this season. Rodgers has 1,969 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on the year.
The Steelers have another tough game coming up against the Buffalo Bills in Week 13. Rodgers is hoping to be able to play in that one.
