The Pittsburgh Steelers seem to have a problem in the quarterback room. And they pulled Aaron Rodgers from the Week 2 loss. Still, head coach Mike McCarthy has pointed the finger at himself for the Steelers’ dismal offense. But there’s a Rodgers elephant in the room.

It’s not the defense, according to posts on X by Chris Adamski.

“Steelers coach Mike McCarthy: ‘Defense played well enough to win the game….. Offense needs to be better. Mike McCarthy needs to be better. We have to give Aaron better platforms to throw off of. Because I don’t want to dink-and-dunk all day.’ ”

Steelers trying to find an offensive answer

One good thing is where the team currently stands, according to a post on X by Jeremy Fowler.

“Steelers very fortunate to be 1-1 with that production.”

How much of the problem is Rodgers? He can’t lay too much blame on the dropped passes. Even though some have been hideous. Rodgers has completed just 59.5% of his passes in two games. He has thrown for 408 yards with a meek one touchdown and one interception.

It’s not even the Rodgers of last year. He completed 65.7% of his passes in 2025. And he finished with 24 touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

Rodgers is trying to avoid the blame game as well, according to CBS Sports.

“Can't feel sorry for ourselves,” Rodgers said. “Can't point fingers. We've all got to play better, but I think we can all give a little more. The best teams are player-led teams, so we've got to keep taking the ownership.

“In a game like (Sunday) where there wasn't a lot of flow to it, we need to be better. And that starts with me at making sure Mike (McCarthy) knows what's working, what's not working, our coaches know, so we can call stuff that we feel like has a better chance.”

Given a chance to critique McCarthy’s play-calling, Rodgers said the execution was the issue.

“It's not that big of a sample size, but I thought we didn't execute very well at all,” Rodgers said. “The plays were fine. We had opportunities, and we've got to dig into the details on some of this stuff. If there's too much stuff in the plan, we've got to cut it back.

“I always like to push the envelope, and if I see guys doing it the right way in practice, then I feel good about it. But we've got to try to transfer the practice to the game, obviously, and the details got to come with it.”

But it sure looks like Rodgers is stretching his season one year too long. The mobility looks like a zero. And he’s getting pummeled at times because of his lack of escapability.

McCarthy said the Steelers didn’t do a good job against the Patriots of taking advantage of defensive aggressiveness.

“As an offensive coach, I always welcome the opportunity to play against pressure defense,” McCarthy said. “I think it's clearly an opportunity for big-play potential. That was not the case today. We didn't answer the bell. Our protections weren't clean. We had issues, whether it was communication and breakdowns, clearly in the first half, that took away some opportunities for big plays.”

Where do things go from here?

The Steelers need to consider looking more intently at the succession plan. Rodgers will probably ride in the captain’s chair until the playoff hopes are gone. And maybe the defense will be good enough to keep them in the mix for a decent amount of the season.

But at some point, the Steelers need to see in game action what they have in Will Howard and Drew Allar. Just being younger would give them a leg up on Rodgers.

It doesn’t mean they have to toss Rodgers to the side early in the season. But if the wins start drying up, McCarthy needs to be willing to tell Rodgers that it is time to sit.