The potential final postgame press conference of Aaron Rodgers’ career ended abruptly.
The Steelers’ quarterback dropped an f-bomb and appeared to cut his Q&A short after getting a second straight question regarding Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin’s future.
“I’ve answered that a number of times,” Rodgers said after a 30-6 home wild-card loss to the Texans. “I’ve talked extensively about how I feel about Mike — and I just did in that f–king answer, so.”
Rodgers then stood up and exited the press conference to head into an uncertain offseason for both him and the Steelers’ long-tenured coach.
There has been speculation that Monday could be a finale of sorts for both.
While Tomlin has not posted a losing record in 19 years leading the franchise, there’s an argument that the Steelers, a titan of the league, have become stale.
The Steelers have lost seven straight playoff games and last won a postseason game on Jan. 15, 2017, a stretch of nine seasons.
Monday’s 30-6 loss, a game more competitive than the score would indicat, marked the fifth straight double-digit loss by the team in the playoffs, and six of these seven straight playoff losses have come by at least 10 points. The last three have all been at least by 14 points.
A report emerged earlier this season stating that Tomlin had a comfy television job waiting for him should he decide to move on from the coaching ranks.
A source close to Tomlin told ESPN recently that him stepping away could be on the table.
Rodgers, 42, went to bat for Tomlin, stating that in years past coaches like Tomlin or his ex-coach Matt LaFleur of the Packers would not have been on the hot seat.
“But the way that the league is covered now and the way that there’s snap decisions and the validity given to the Twitter experts and all the experts on TV now who make it seem like they know what the hell they’re talking about, to me that’s an absolute joke,” Rodgers said. “And for either those two guys to be on the hot seat is really apropos of where we’re at as a society and a league…
“Mike T. has had more success than damn near anybody in the league for the last 19, 20 years. More than that, though, when you have the right guy and the culture is right, you don’t think about making a change, but there’s a lot of pressure that comes from the outside and obviously that sways decisions from time to time. But it’s not how I would do things and not how the league used to be.”
If Tomlin returns for a 20th season with the franchise, it’s uncertain if he’ll have the future Hall of Famer under center for another year.
Rodgers, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 146 yards and a pick-six that all but sealed the game, did not indicate whether his legendary career is over, not wanting to make an emotional decision.
“Disappointed, obviously, such a fun year, a lot of adversity but a lot of fun,” Rodgers said. “Been a great year overall in my life in the last year, and this is a really good part of that coming here and being part of this, so it’s disappointing to be here with the season over.”
