Aaron Rodgers at home with Steelers, at peace with Packers

AARON RODGERS WAS once puzzled and frustrated by the Green Bay Packers' decision to lay the foundation for a future without him. Two and a half years later, after they reinforced around new cornerstone Jordan Love, Rodgers was introspective and publicly accepting as he readied to face his former team.

It's why even while his competitive fire burns as one of the Pittsburgh Steelers' leaders, he'll warmly greet Love, the man who replaced him, and the crew of Packers captains at Sunday's coin toss, and why he'll probably share pregame hugs, handshakes and conversations with the few who still remain in Green Bay from his era.

"I don't have any animosity toward the organization," Rodgers said. "Obviously I wish that things had been better in our last year there, but I have a great relationship with a lot of people still in that organization. This is not a revenge game for me. I'm just excited to see some of those guys and be on 'Sunday Night Football' again.

"I grew up there. I spent 18 years there from 21 to 39, so I'm thankful for my time there. Obviously would've loved to ride off in the sunset after a Super Bowl win, but that's not the way the league goes sometimes. I knew the writing was on the wall when Jordan was picked. ... I knew at some point there would be a change, and if I wanted to play, it'd probably have to be elsewhere. So I understand the situation."

It's yet another parallel between Rodgers and the quarterback he succeeded in Green Bay nearly two decades ago. Like Brett Favre, Rodgers spent an interlude with the New York Jets before landing with a third franchise. Favre's tenure in New York lasted a season and was marred by a league-high 22 interceptions, matching 22 touchdown throws in a 9-7 season. Rodgers' two-year stint as a Jet, meanwhile, will be remembered for a season-ending Achilles injury, a fired head coach and a constant cycle of tabloid headlines.

But unlike the palpable tension that existed between Favre and the Packers in the days, hours and minutes leading up to Favre's 2009 meeting with his former team as a member of a rival franchise, Rodgers' emotions as he faces his old club are less vindictive and more warmly nostalgic.

In Pittsburgh, Rodgers is authoring the final chapter of a storied career -- one he said Thursday he'll eventually retire as a Packer -- with the kind of perspective gained from a winding journey. From the fiery wunderkind who dethroned a franchise king in Favre to the disgruntled prince of unfulfilled promise in New York to a reinvigorated complementary player in a preexisting culture in Pittsburgh, Rodgers has evolved throughout a 21-year career to reach another milestone Sunday night when the 4-2 Steelers host the 4-1-1 Packers (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).

And where an uncomfortable awkwardness once clouded the relationship between a Packers franchise and the quarterback who secured its fourth Lombardi Trophy, there now exists a public, mutual appreciation for what they accomplished together.

THE SETUP AT the old Metrodome in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Vikings played from 1982 to 2013, didn't offer much privacy for visiting team executives, especially Packers general manager Ted Thompson on Oct. 5, 2009.

Thompson sat in the second row of the open-air press box, one row behind the reporters covering the game. The press box itself was situated closely behind a lower-level section near midfield. Anyone could walk between the last row of seats and the first row of the press box, and passersby could stand at eye level with reporters.

On that day, it provided the perfect place for angry Packers fans to scream at Thompson, the man who rebuffed Favre's attempt to come out of retirement and continue his career with the Packers during the summer of 2008. In the minds of some, that allowed Favre to eventually play for the rival Vikings after Thompson traded him to the New York Jets, where he played for one season.

"Those fans were right in your face," then-Packers president Mark Murphy recalled recently. "It's just crazy how close they were. It was kind of scary, actually, with some of the stuff they were yelling at Ted."

Thompson died in 2021, and Murphy retired in July and won't be in Pittsburgh on Sunday when Rodgers will do what Favre did in 2009 -- play against his old team for the first time. Rodgers landed in Pittsburgh after two seasons with the Jets.

But Murphy doesn't fear for current Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, who traded Rodgers to the Jets on April 24, 2023, or new team president Ed Policy. For starters, the Packers' brass will be safely tucked into an enclosed press box out of earshot from fans; no other stadiums in the NFL allow fans to get as close as they did at the Metrodome.

That's not the only reason, though.

"I don't think it will be quite the same," Murphy said. "Brett was so beloved by our fans. Aaron was obviously a great player, but I just think our fans really related to Brett."

Therein lies the difference between the reactions to the way Favre and Rodgers departed Green Bay.

When the Packers traded Rodgers, there were no protests outside Lambeau Field, no website called "BringBackAaronRodgers.com" and no one heckling Love at his first training camp as the starting quarterback in 2023. Yes, all of those things happened during the summer of 2008 -- including a "BringBackBrettFavre.com" website and jeers directed toward Rodgers -- when Favre came out of retirement and said he wanted to play for the Packers again.

"I was not here on a day-to-day basis when Ted went through all that, but I was around some, and I never felt what he felt during that time with Brett and Aaron," Gutekunst, who was a Packers scout at the time, said in a recent interview with ESPN. "It was a different situation, different player, different time in the world. I think because of the history of the Packers, and they had struggled for so long, and Brett kind of changed that, that's the way he was viewed. I never felt it got to that intensity level [when trading Rodgers]."

Like with Favre, there were times when it appeared a Packers-Rodgers breakup might come earlier than it did. Favre pondered retirement many times before he actually did (and then unretired). Rodgers no-showed for the 2021 offseason and privately threatened to never play for the Packers again. He ended up playing two more seasons, but not before airing his grievances on his first day back with the team, which ultimately boiled down to him saying he wanted more input in the team's decision-making.

If Packers fans weren't turned off by Rodgers before then, that might have started it for some.

"I think a lot of people grew tired of the bulls--- with the [Pat] McAfee [Show] stuff and the different podcast appearances that he made, the darkness retreat and all that stuff," said Kyle Cousineau, a 45-year-old Green Bay resident who is a Packers season-ticket holder and shareholder. "He became so unrelatable to guys like me. Where Favre, and I also think a lot of it has to do with the eras, it was pre-social media."

That could also explain why the Packers felt little to no backlash when they moved on from Rodgers.

"It was time," Murphy said. "It was very different. Favre was the first quarterback after the struggles of the '70s and '80s. He brought the team back. I think a lot of it was just his personality; fans loved him. I remember when that all happened ... a lot of the sentiment was, 'How can you get rid of him?' or 'Let him come back and compete with Aaron.'

"Meanwhile, Brett and his agent were like, 'Just release him. He's done so much for the organization, just let him go and be a free agent.'"

At the time, a large portion of the fan base sided with Favre.

Until he went to the Vikings.

"Brett tried to twist the knife in," said Aaron Nagler, co-founder of the interactive Packers-based content website CheeseheadTV. "Aaron didn't try to do any of that. I do think there are certainly a smattering of Packers fans who think Aaron was done wrong by the team, and they should've held on to him. But I think the vast majority of Packers fans understood it was time to move on, but they really truly, genuinely appreciate Aaron and everything he did."

Whatever the reaction to Rodgers will be Sunday night, it's not likely to be the same as it would've been had the game taken place at Lambeau Field.

"Here's the difference between the two situations: Packers fans bought tickets to that game in Minnesota to boo Brett Favre and to [yell at] Ted Thompson," Cousineau said. "I haven't heard a single Packer fan that is buying tickets to the Steelers game to go boo Aaron Rodgers. I don't think it's happening."

But it might have been different if Rodgers had gone to Minnesota. The Vikings had internal discussions about signing him this past offseason.

"The first game against the Vikings with Brett at Lambeau, I don't think I've ever heard our crowd louder," Murphy said. "It was just crazy, and of course we lost both of the games [to the Vikings in 2009], and then next year it completely flipped."

Gutekunst probably won't face the wrath that his predecessor did during the Favre saga.

"Ted used to always joke during that period of time that none of us would stand by him," Gutekunst said of Thompson, "because we all thought something was going to happen to him."

BETWEEN MEETINGS TO review film from the Week 7 loss to the Bengals and others to prepare for the Packers, Rodgers popped his head into the Steelers' offensive line meeting room at the team practice facility Monday afternoon.

"Hey, hockey game tomorrow," Rodgers said, casually extending an invitation to join him in a suite at PPG Arena for a Pittsburgh Penguins game. The next night, Rodgers -- donning a Sidney Crosby sweater -- and six of his teammates huddled together arm-in-arm behind former Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel moments before puck drop against the Vancouver Canucks.

"It's a great sports town," Rodgers said Wednesday. "We were at the hockey game last night. I saw Sid score a goal. Sid, Tang [Kris Letang] and Gino [Evgeni Malkin] have all been on the team I think 21 years, which is amazing. I'm in my 21st season, so I know how hard it is to stick around as long as those guys have. There's something special about the connection."

There's also something special about Rodgers' connection to his new team and city.

Though coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers' brass were confident this offseason that Rodgers was a fit for the organization and worthy of breaking from years of not pursuing high-profile free agents to instead engage in a public pursuit of the four-time MVP, he was still received warily by a fan base who watched the implosion of his brief Jets career unfold from the moment he ruptured his Achilles on the third snap of the 2023 season.

Those same fans saw the hubbub Rodgers created with a 2022 darkness retreat. They heard the unfiltered diatribes unleashed in weekly installments on the "The Pat McAfee Show." And they watched dysfunction descend on the Jets' organization as Rodgers' presence influenced personnel decisions and roster construction. To those outside the Steelers' building, Rodgers' public-facing persona was a sideshow to his football ability, whatever of it he might have left at 41 and a year removed from the Achilles injury.

But save for an unintentionally buzzy March visit to the Steelers' practice facility in a purposefully covert sedan and several paparazzi photos of angsty beach walks earlier in the month, Rodgers' tenure in Pittsburgh has been largely uneventful off the field.

Of course, there's less drama and fewer grievances to be aired with a 4-2 start and a productive offense. But in the locker room, Rodgers has endeared himself to teammates by balancing a thoughtful leadership style, approachability and demands for perfection.

"It's fun playing for 8," Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III said. "Hall of Fame quarterback that's continuing to build his résumé. We're part of that. We just want to continue to make plays, obviously for ourselves and what we do, but for him as well.

"I'd be willing to do what I do for myself and my journey and my family and what God has blessed me with, but having respect for this game and what he's done for this game, what he's done for this team, and how he leads and how he carries himself, it makes you want to go out there and ball even more."

Though Rodgers doesn't have direct Pittsburgh roots, he quickly assimilated to the culture of the city and of the organization. And while he credits Tomlin and the coach's emphasis on building a personal relationship for bringing him to Pittsburgh, Rodgers said his familiarity with the city through his former coaches also played a role in the move.

"I was around Pittsburgh people my entire football career starting with Mike McCarthy for 13 years," Rodgers said. "Mike's from Greenfield and his love for this city and how he talked about it. And playing with Dom Capers on the staff and Darren Perry and Kevin Green and Ben McAdoo in my room, and Frank Cignetti and Luke Getsy, Alex Van Pelt -- a lot of people from this area, so I knew a lot about it just from talking to those guys. I knew what a great sports town it is, what a great tradition the Steelers have -- and that was definitely a part of it."

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There are similarities between the two franchises that give Rodgers a sense of comfort and familiarity. Not only has he been quick to point out that he has a sense of AFC North rivalries and the division's physical style of play from his years in the NFC North, but Rodgers' experience at St. Vincent College for Steelers training camp was reminiscent of his years attending Packers training camp at St. Norbert College through the 2019 preseason.

"Not actually way different," Rodgers said in July while comparing the experiences. "We were at the dorms in beautiful St. Norbert College for 14 years, first 14 years of my career. ... I love this idea, this opportunity to be out here in Latrobe and to stay here and connect with the guys."

Through five months with the Steelers, Rodgers has carefully threaded the needle of being both the commanding, veteran leader and the approachable, quick-witted teammate. And through six games in Pittsburgh, he hasn't been as demonstratively frustrated on the field as he was in Green Bay and in New York. But in the loss to the Bengals, cameras captured him yelling at running back Jaylen Warren after a miscommunication on a flea-flicker and at tackle Broderick Jones after the big man tackled him to the ground celebrating a touchdown.

A week later, Rodgers laughed about the interaction with Jones.

"I texted him, I said, 'Hey man, I love your energy, I love everything you're about, but also I'm 41,'" Rodgers said with a smile. "OK? You can't be out there tackling me like that. But I love Broderick. We had a couple laughs about it, and I told him, I'm getting him next. You better watch your back."

THOUGH RODGERS SPENT the majority of his 13-minute midweek media session before Sunday night's game speaking with affection for his former organization, the people in it and the city he called home during his formative years, there's still a deep, innate desire to beat the Packers. With a win, Rodgers would join an exclusive club as the fifth NFL quarterback to have beaten all 32 franchises.

And, he acknowledged Wednesday, his feelings toward the Packers haven't always been this warm.

"We're always working on ourselves and trying to be better than we were the previous day, previous month, previous year," Rodgers said when asked if his attitude toward the Packers had evolved over the years. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, maybe."

As one longtime NFL front office executive said, "Spending a couple of years with the Jets might change his opinion of the Packers."

Rodgers already came out on top against one of his former franchises earlier this year when he threw four touchdown passes in a Week 1 34-32 win against the Jets. And though he downplayed a revenge game narrative in the week leading up to the game, Rodgers made it clear afterward that the win meant a little something extra to him.

"There were probably people in the organization that didn't think I could play anymore," Rodgers said. "So, it was nice to remind those people that I still can."

Two weeks later, Rodgers was on the sideline as new Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers forced and recovered a fumble in New England after being released by the Patriots in the preseason. In reflecting on that moment after the game, Rodgers offered a window into the fire that has fueled him throughout his playing career. And underneath the respect and admiration, it's one that still smolders.

"As former players, when you're playing former teams, that's what you want," Rodgers said then. "You want to make a big play, and make 'em think about what they lost."

But old wounds can be healed, and bitter resentment can be resolved. That much was clear when all 67,000 tickets were sold to watch Favre's July 2015 induction into the Packers Hall of Fame on video boards inside the stadium, with Favre saying at the time, "When it sold out so quickly, I got goose bumps."

Eventually, Rodgers also will be welcomed back by the Packers.

"I hope so," Murphy said. "He deserves it."