Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers wishes Thursday’s preseason game with Packers could take place in Green Bay

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has one regret about starting his final NFL season with an exhibition game against the team that drafted him. He would have preferred Thursday’s matchup with the Packers take place in Green Bay rather than Pittsburgh. Rodgers wanted to have one final moment in the place where he spent his first 18 seasons and won four MVP awards and a Super Bowl.

“I was really hoping this one was going to be in Green Bay, not just to get back at Lambeau one more time, but to head out to Chives for a dinner and maybe head out to Green Bay Country Club for a quick nine or something,” Rodgers said Wednesday in a Zoom session with Packers reporters. “I was really hoping it was going to be in Green Bay, for a lot of reasons.” This will be the second time Rodgers has faced his former team since leaving the Packers in 2023, though there’s no indication yet on whether he will play Thursday. Both games were in Pittsburgh, so Rodgers will head into retirement after this season having never played against the Packers at Lambeau Field.

“It would have been strange, being in that locker room and stuff,” Rodgers said. “But I would have found my way over, like many former players have over the years, found my way over to Flea’s (Packers head athletic trainer Bryan Engel’s) office and hang out back there and see some of the guys and see some of the trainers and equipment staff and all the people I really care about that still work there. “Yeah, I was definitely bummed out that we weren’t in Lambeau for this one.” Rodgers’ Steelers lost 35-25 to the Packers last October.

Jordan Love, the quarterback Green Bay selected in the first round of the 2020 draft to become Rodgers’ eventual successor, threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns that night. When he was asked what he missed the most about Wisconsin aside from football and the fans, Rodgers talked about the house he owned during his Packers years, the meals he enjoyed at Chives and the rounds of golf he played. Then he turned the subject back toward football.

“The falls there are just awesome, when the weather gets that cool little nip,” Rodgers said. “I loved the night games at Lambeau, especially the Sunday nights, Monday nights and occasional Thursday nights. I’ve been other places, I knew that when I was in Green Bay, but there’s nothing li…

Then he turned the subject back toward football.“The falls there are just awesome, when the weather gets that cool little nip,” Rodgers said.