How the Steelers forged Aaron Rodgers-Mike Tomlin connection - ESPN

PITTSBURGH — As Steelers staffers scurried to distribute AFC North championship hats and T-shirts and cameramen flooded the field, Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin found each other on the turf at Acrisure Stadium.

Encircled by boom mics and clicking cameras, Tomlin extended a hand to his quarterback, pulled him in for a hug and told him he loved him.

«Thanks for bringing me here,» Rodgers told his head coach.

«Are you kidding me?» Tomlin responded. «Thank you for coming.»

This was the manifestation of the vision Tomlin, 53, saw when he pursued Rodgers 10 months ago, that the 42-year-old quarterback still had it — the knowledge, the arm, the swagger — to lead the Steelers to the postseason. And with a vintage fourth-quarter performance — and, of course, with the help of a missed Baltimore Ravens field goal — that's just what Rodgers did.

Tomlin has been searching for the franchise's next quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger's 2022 retirement, sifting through the silt of the NFL draft and free agency for that priceless addition. Each time, though, the glimmers of hope turned out to be fool's gold.

But in Rodgers, Tomlin found an unlikely kindred spirit, a quarterback who still had the drive to be great and the physical ability and aptitude to make it happen — at least for a year. Thanks to that relationship, the Steelers rallied from a 6-6 midseason slump to reach the playoffs and will host the Houston Texans on Monday night (8:20 ET, ESPN) in Pittsburgh's first home playoff game since the 2020 season.

«I think we got to be connected,» Tomlin said Tuesday about the importance of the coach-quarterback relationship. «There's a loneliness with leadership. There's a responsibility with leadership. And so I've just learned over