The Mike McCarthy hire in Pittsburgh just reopened a complicated chapter from NFL history. And as Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio details, it is one that includes Aaron Rodgers long before their Green Bay days.
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The roots go back to 2005, when McCarthy was the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers. That was the year San Francisco passed on Rodgers with the first overall pick and selected Alex Smith instead.
According to Ian O'Connor's book on Rodgers, McCarthy has downplayed his influence in that decision, though former 49ers coach Mike Nolan indicated McCarthy favored Smith.
Rodgers, famously long memory and all, eventually ended up paired with McCarthy and the Packers. For a while, it worked. Until it did not.
As Florio revisits, a 2019 deep dive by Bleacher Report's Tyler Dunne painted the relationship as strained late in McCarthy's tenure.
One anonymous source at the time claimed Rodgers viewed McCarthy as having a low football IQ, a brutal assessment that showed how far things had deteriorated before McCarthy was fired in 2018.
Now, with McCarthy taking over the Steelers, the possibility of a Rodgers reunion lingers, at least in theory. Florio notes that any second act would require both men to want it, and history suggests that is far from guaranteed.
If Rodgers becomes part of the conversation, the Steelers will need to manage it carefully. Florio's advice is straightforward. Do not corner Rodgers.
Let him decide his future, set a timeline, and avoid turning it into a public feud.
Because if nothing else, Rodgers has shown he knows how to control the narrative.
And this could become one more opportunity to revisit a grudge that began more than 20 years ago.
