RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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CBS Sports HQ visited the training camp of the Steelers on Tuesday, and Pittsburgh kicks off the preseason and the Mike McCarthy coaching era tonight when it hosts one of McCarthy's former teams in the Green Bay Packers . It's a 7 ET kickoff on NFL Network, but I will focus mostly on what to expect from the 2026 Steelers in what QB Aaron Rodgers swears will be his final season before retirement. Where have we heard that before? Wager on the NFL with the latest FanDuel promo code and get up to $1,000 in bet resets when you bet $5 for 5 days:
McCarthy, +2700 for NFL Coach of the Year, and Rodgers are back together for their first preseason since 2018 in Green Bay, but Rodgers is not expected to play tonight, if at all in these exhibition games. The future Hall of Famer rarely does play in them (didn't last year) and at age 42, there's no point in risking injury ahead of his 22nd and final NFL season.
Veteran backup Mason Rudolph should start tonight and play one or two series. He is expected to be replaced by rookie Drew Allar for the rest of the first half, with second-year Will Howard expected to play the entire second half. Note that Green Bay is expected to play its healthy starters, including QB Jordan Love , a series or two.
This will not be the first season where the Steelers have had a Hall of Fame-bound quarterback reunite with a former coach with whom he won an NFL title – McCarthy and Rodgers won Super Bowl XLV with Green Bay following the 2010 season, over Pittsburgh.
Two games into the 1958 season, Steelers coach Buddy Parker arranged for a trade to bring Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne to Pittsburgh. That duo worked together in Detroit from 1951-56 and won two NFL titles. Layne went on to record a career-high 2,510 passing yards in his first season back with Parker. McCarthy and Rodgers in Week 1 vs. Atlanta will become the first head coach/QB duo to win a Super Bowl together then start a game for another team.
Fans can stay up to date with information from our NFL news page, and bettors should also look for picks from the SportsLine Projection Model and our experts during the 2026 NFL season. Check out Aaron Rodgers props and more NFL picks at DraftKings, where new users get $150 in bonus bets paid within 14 days after they spend $5+:
In leading Pittsburgh to the AFC North title last season – thanks to a missed kick by Baltimore's Justin Tucker in the regular-season finale – Rodgers finished his first year in Steel Town with 3,322 passing yards. If he matches that production in 2026, he would rank top five all-time in passing yards by a Hall of Fame-bound QB in his final season.
The current record in that scenario is 3,753 by Kurt Warner in 2009 with Arizona, but Tom Brady will top the list with 4,694 yards with Tampa Bay (2022) when he is enshrined in 2028. Rodgers is +10000 to win a record-tying fifth regular-season MVP and is given Over/Under season totals of 3,050.5 passing yards.
Pittsburgh added a good wideout via trade this offseason to help Rodgers, getting Michael Pittman from the Colts for a couple of draft picks. He finished last season with 80 receptions for 784 yards and a career-high seven touchdowns. However, Pittman and fellow starting wideout DK Metcalf are both dealing with injuries, so you won't see them tonight. McCarthy is 31-32 SU and 30-33 ATS in his NFL coaching career in the preseason.
The Steelers won exactly 10 games each of the past three seasons and reached the playoffs under former coach Mike Tomlin – those 10 wins last year may have been a fluke considering they had the worst yardage differential (-872) by a 10+ win team in NFL history. They are set at Over/Under 8.5 wins (Over +120, Under -140) for 2026 and +166 for the playoffs, with No at -198.
The SportsLine Projection Model forecasts Pittsburgh at 8.6 wins and a 40.4% shot at the postseason. The team has gone Over its win total in six straight seasons, the longest active streak in the league. But the franchise hasn't won a playoff game since 2016, with seven straight losses, the fourth-longest such streak in NFL history. Not only that, the Steelers trailed by at least 21 points in all seven games, the longest such streak ever.
Rodgers has 10 straight playoff appearances without reaching the Super Bowl, the longest streak ever by a starting QB. I don't see the playoffs this year with such an aging roster and with Rodgers a combined 24-27 as a starter since 2022.
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