Entering his 22nd NFL season — or as Aaron Rodgers says, “his last rodeo” — the 42-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is on the cusp of joining several exclusive clubs as he moves up the ranks in the league record books.
In 2025, he passed former teammate Brett Favre to take sole possession of fourth place in career touchdown passes thrown with his 509th TD pass in the Week 3 win against the New England Patriots.
“Every now and then I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I’ve been playing a long time, and it’s a longevity thing,” Rodgers said before passing Favre’s mark last season. “I’m proud of it, but not a big deal.”
Rodgers supplanted Ben Roethlisberger for fifth in all-time passing yards in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 16, 2025. But now, Rodgers is closing in on his final opportunities to add to that growing list of historic accomplishments.
Among the milestones in reach for Rodgers are becoming the fourth quarterback in NFL history to appear in 300 games (as of Week 6 he has appeared in 293), joining Tom Brady (383), Favre (326) and Drew Brees (305), throwing the fourth-most touchdown passes in NFL history (as of Week 6, he has 539) and having the second-most regular-season games with multiple touchdown passes. And after Week 6, he needs 2,239 yards to become the fifth player to reach 70,000 passing yards.
This season, we’re chronicling Rodgers’ individual milestones week by week as he rides his last rodeo. Follow along here for the weekly installments.
Preseason: 0-for-0, 0 yards, 0 INT, 0 sacks, 0 rushes
Despite early hints that Rodgers would take the field during the Steelers’ first preseason under McCarthy, the veteran quarterback instead spent two games on the sideline and one on his couch at home. With Rodgers’ top two receivers in DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. sidelined with preseason injuries, McCarthy opted to also keep his quarterback under wraps.
Rodgers isn’t a stranger to sitting out the preseason in recent years. He didn’t play in any preseason games for the Steelers in 2025, nor for the New York Jets in 2024 following his season-ending left Achilles tear in Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Rodgers’ stat line: 221 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 2 sacks, 3 rushes for -1 yard
Rodgers didn’t break any records this week, but he pulled within one touchdown pass of Peyton Manning for fourth most in NFL history with his second-quarter throw to tight end Pat Freiermuth for 6 yards. The touchdown toss was Rodgers’ 232nd of the regular season. Rodgers had 26 pass attempts in the first half, his most attempts in the first half of a game since 2020 at Minnesota as a member of the Green Bay Packers, per ESPN Research.
After Sunday’s game, coach Mike McCarthy said he wanted to find more balance in his offense, which ran the ball just 21 times to Rodgers’ 40 pass attempts. Rodgers, though, didn’t mind all the throwing.
“No, keep doing it,” Rodgers said, urging his coach to keep calling passes. “Keep doing it.”
And although Rodgers and the Steelers got the win, the quarterback struggled under the pressure from the Falcons’ front. He completed 3 of 12 attempts under pressure and was sacked twice. And continuing the trend from last season, Rodgers was also 3-of-12 on throws of 15 or more air yards. Some of those incompletions, though, were the result of drops by his receivers.
“I liked the plan from Mike,” Rodgers said. “I liked the playcalling. We took some shots. I felt like we had really close to having one of those really good games. If we come down with a couple of those, it obviously looks a little different on the scoreboard and stat sheet and stuff, but love my guys, love DK [Metcalf].
Rodgers’ stat line: 187 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 4 sacks, 1 rush for 5 yards
Rodgers set two personal Steelers milestones in the team’s Week 2 loss — and not in a good way. Rodgers was off target on 26% of his throws (nine attempts) in the loss, his worst as a Steeler. The Patriots frustrated Rodgers with heavy pressures and blitzed on 19 of 44 dropbacks (43%), the second-highest rate he has faced with Pittsburgh. Against the blitz, he was 8-of-17 for 42 yards with two sacks and an interception. And he had his first interception against the blitz as a member of the Steelers.
“It’s frustrating, for sure,” Rodgers said of not getting into the end zone at New England on Sunday. “The defense has been playing great. They’ve been holding [opponents to] 13 points a game in two games, and offensively I think we’re averaging like eight points a game. That’s not winning football.”
Rodgers’ stat line: 292 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 3 rushes for 10 yards
It turns out Rodgers still has plenty left in the tank. A week after one of his worst performances as a Steeler, Rodgers bounced back with three passing touchdowns to help the offense put up a season-best 30 points and 411 yards in the win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Rodgers aired it out in the first quarter with two touchdown throws and 143 passing yards — the most he has thrown in the first quarter since Week 6 of 2018 against the 49ers (170). Each of his touchdown passes traveled at least 20 air yards, marking his first time with multiple touchdowns of 20-plus air yards since he joined the Steelers. Entering Sunday’s game, Rodgers was 0-of-9 on pass attempts of 20-plus air yards.
“We definitely needed it because it was just uncharacteristic of us,” Steelers wide receiver Ben Skowronek said of the offense’s bounce-back performance. “Throughout camp, we felt really confident in what we were doing, moving the ball. And the first two weeks we just weren’t us. So credit to the coaching staff, the guys in the building, we locked in this week and we knew we had to have it. We knew we could do it.”
After two weeks without much movement in the record books, Rodgers is starting to make some headway. Sunday’s win marked the 165th of his career, tying him with Ben Roethlisberger for fifth most by a starting quarterback since positions were first tracked in 1950. With his first-quarter 38-yard touchdown throw to Roman Wilson, Rodgers also recorded his 233rd career game with at least one passing touchdown, tying Peyton Manning for the fourth most such games in NFL history.
Rodgers’ stat line: 299 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs, 5 sacks, 0 rushes
Rodgers spent a lot of time on the turf at Huntington Bank Field in what’s scheduled to be his final Thursday night game (barring a late-season flex). Rodgers took 10 quarterback hits thanks to Cleveland’s aggressive game plan, protection breakdowns and the quarterback’s decisions to hold on to the ball as he looked for his pass catchers to get open against man coverage.
All five of the sacks against Rodgers came as he faced man coverage, and on the season, he has been sacked an NFL-worst 12 times when facing man coverage — seven more than any other quarterback. And while the offense largely stagnated through the second and third quarters, it came alive in the fourth as Rodgers aired it out with 43-, 28- and 22-yard completions to wide receiver DK Metcalf and a 21-yard touchdown throw threaded to Darnell Washington.
Rodgers even tied the score at 24 with a quarterback sneak for a successful two-point conversion with less than two minutes to go.
“I felt like there was no chance they’d be expecting that,” Rodgers said. “So I just told them in the huddle, if I can this one, I’m going to sneak it.'”
With the loss, Rodgers still has 13 wins on Thursdays and remains tied with Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott for second most all time.
Rodgers’ stat line: 235 yards, 3 TDs, 1 sack, 1 rush for 6 yards
Aaron Rodgers stood to the right of Cameron Heyward as Heyward wrapped up his postgame news conference behind the dais in the media room at Acrisure Stadium.
After answering his final question, Heyward morphed from player to emcee and formally welcomed Rodgers to the podium: “Aaron Rodgers, welcome to the stage” he said, gesturing to the quarterback. “How old are you now?”
Rodgers laughed and replied, “42.”
Odds are slim that Heyward didn’t actually know his quarterback’s age, but Rodgers’ play Sunday afternoon might’ve given the defensive lineman temporary amnesia. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in the 34-22 win, marking his third consecutive week with three TD throws — his longest streak since his 2021 MVP season when he had three straight from Weeks 14 to 16.
With Sunday’s performance, Rodgers became the first quarterback in NFL history to have three consecutive games with three passing touchdowns within a season at age 41 or older. He’s also the second Steelers quarterback to hit the mark, joining Terry Bradshaw’s streak in 1982.
Since turning 40, Rodgers has thrown three touchdown passes in eight games, passing Brett Favre for third most in NFL history. Rodgers now trails only Tom Brady (36) and Drew Brees (11) in such games.
The touchdowns themselves were milestone-worthy, too. Rodgers’ first of the day — an 80-yard catch-and-run by RB Jaylen Warren — was the quarterback’s ninth career touchdown pass of at least 80 yards, tying him with Ben Roethlisberger for most in NFL history. Rodgers also moved past Peyton Manning for the third-most career touchdown passes including the postseason. He now has 582.
And Rodgers also recorded his 169th career game with multiple passing touchdowns, trailing only Tom Brady (204) and Drew Brees 173).
Rodgers’ stat line: 253 yards, 2 TDs, 5 sacks, 1 rush for -1 yard
Rodgers threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns to rally the Steelers from a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit to an overtime win on Sunday. With the two touchdown passes, Rodgers tied Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning for third all-time on the NFL’s career passing touchdown list with 539. Only Drew Brees (571) and Tom Brady (649) have thrown more passing touchdowns than Rodgers and Manning.
