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Aaron Rodgers has begun to make a believer out of Ben Roethlisberger ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2025 campaign.
Although Roethlisberger indicated earlier this year that the Steelers could be an 11-win team with Rodgers, who had not yet signed with Pittsburgh, Big Ben might go a step or two further after going to a practice.
“Watching Aaron work, he threw one pass and as he started walking over to me, I was like, ‘Man, tell you what, one thing that doesn't stop working and it's that arm,'” Roethlisberger said on the ‘Footbahlin' podcast [h/t Steelers Wire's Andrew Vasquez]. “His arm looks good. At some point, before the season starts, I'm going to go back through my Footbahlin notebook and I might have to readjust my pick for the season of wins and losses.”
While 11 wins can be a tough ask for any team, the Steelers are annually a good bet to get there — or at least very close.
Last season, despite starting quarterback Russell Wilson missing the first six weeks of the season due to injury, the Steelers opened the year up with a 4-2 record. And with Wilson at the helm, Pittsburgh rattled off four wins in a row and improved its record to 8-2. After Week 13, the Steelers were 10-3 on the season and 6-1 with Wilson as the starter.
However, the final four weeks featured three of the best teams in the league — the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs — and the Steelers lost each of those games, plus the season finale vs. the red-hot Cincinnati Bengals.
Although the four-game losing streak and Wild Card playoff exit at the hands of the Ravens was a bitter end to the season, the Steelers still managed to win 10 games with considerable question marks around the health and effectiveness of Wilson or Fields, the team's top two quarterbacks.
Pittsburgh certainly hopes that Rodgers can bring some stability to the position this season. And Rodgers is likely looking for some stability as well after an injury immediately ended his first year with the New York Jets in 2023 before a 2024 season in which Rodgers and the Jets floundered, resulting in the mid-season dismissal of head coach Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas.
Rodgers, 41, is the oldest player in the NFL and has said that he will most likely retire following this season, which will be his 21st in the league.
![Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin walks on the field during the second quarter of an NFL preseason matchup at EverBank Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Tomlin-during-preseason.jpg)
