The Pittsburgh Steelers brought back Aaron Rodgers to reunite with Mike McCarthy, and the two analysts who know the roster best landed in the same uncomfortable place: this is a holding pattern, not a contender.
That was the verdict on PFSN’s Football Debate Club, where host Cam Mellor pressed Steelers writer Nick Farabaugh and analyst Jacob Infante on whether fans should buy into the new era or brace for more of the same. Both reached for the same phrase.
Why the Rodgers-McCarthy Reunion Feels Like Treading Water
Farabaugh didn’t soften it. “To me, feels like they’re treading water,” he said. “They’re getting a guy that was okay at best last year. Really struggled to push the ball down the field. He’s stuck in the pocket in the mud a lot.”
His core objection was structural, not just about age. Pittsburgh’s passing game lived underneath last season, and that ceiling shows up against real defenses. “The Steelers just did not have an offense over the middle of the field, down the football field. It was all short. It was [YAC]-based,” Farabaugh said. “When they face really good defenses, they’re going to run a buzzsaw through this offense.”
The receipts back him up. Rodgers, who turns 43 during the season, threw for 3,322 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2025, leading Pittsburgh to the AFC North title. Then the offense disappeared in a 30-6 wild-card loss to Houston on Jan. 12, with Rodgers managing 146 passing yards against the NFL’s top-ranked yardage defense. Sheldon Rankins returned a Rodgers fumble for the score that broke the game open.
Infante reached the same conclusion and stretched the timeline back further. “I think it’s treading water, and I think they’ve been treading water for some time, truth be told,” he said. “You’re looking at a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2016.”
That drought now sits at seven straight postseason losses. Infante framed the real problem as the company Pittsburgh keeps. “It’s a loaded AFC. When you have Josh Allen, you have Lamar Jackson, you have Drake Maye, that’s a really talented group,” he said. “They don’t have the talent as it stands right now to match that.”
What the Steelers Actually Built for 2026
The reunion isn’t nothing. Rodgers chose Pittsburgh in large part to play for McCarthy again, the coach who led him for 13 seasons in Green Bay, and the supporting cast got real upgrades. Both analysts acknowledged the floor moved.
Infante credited the offseason additions. “That offense still has its flaws, but I’m a believer in the moves that they made to try and elevate its floor in 2026,” he said, pointing to second-round rookie weapon Germie Bernard and the Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren backfield as upgrades over last year’s group.
Farabaugh’s enthusiasm pointed forward rather than at this season. “I’m not sure they should be excited this year, but I think they should be excited for the future,” he said. The young offensive line, the reworked tight end room, and a fresh defensive scheme under Patrick Graham all read as foundation pieces.
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The catch is that a foundation implies a building still going up. Farabaugh projected 10-7, Infante nine wins, and both numbers describe the same trap that has defined this team for half a decade: good enough to reach January, not built to survive it. Mellor sided with Farabaugh’s read, calling nine the floor and 10 the ceiling, with another likely first-round exit waiting at the end.
The honest question isn’t whether the 2026 Steelers improved. It’s whether McCarthy’s front office uses this bridge year to trade up for the quarterback who ends the cycle, or whether Pittsburgh wakes up in 2027 having treaded water for one more 10-win season that ended the same way the last seven did.
