October 11, 2026 — At 42, Aaron Rodgers is supposed to be winding down. Instead, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback walks into Sunday’s home game against the Indianapolis Colts as the most fascinating figure of Week 6 — reunited with the coach who defined his career, coming off a sideline spat, and playing some of his best football in years.
Rodgers returned for what is expected to be a final season largely because Mike McCarthy got the Pittsburgh job, reuniting a partnership that won a Super Bowl in Green Bay. Ten days ago in Cleveland, television cameras caught the two in a heated exchange over the pace of play-calling during a 27–24 Thursday-night loss. Asked this week whether he wanted plays to arrive faster, Rodgers grinned: sometimes, yeah. On McCarthy, he added simply that they have had a lot of success together.
The numbers back up the optimism. Rodgers is averaging nearly 250 passing yards a game and is coming off consecutive prolific outings. Analysts like the matchup: Indianapolis owns one of the league’s leakiest pass defences, and Pittsburgh is favoured by about two and a half points at Acrisure Stadium.
The Colts, 2–2 like the Steelers, arrive with their own storylines. Jonathan Taylor ran for two touchdowns in last week’s London win over Washington, while quarterback Daniel Jones continues his comeback from last December’s torn Achilles. Adding spice, receiver Michael Pittman Jr. faces his old team for the first time since Indianapolis traded him to Pittsburgh.
The Colts have not won in Pittsburgh since 2008. With the AFC North knotted up, Sunday’s 1pm kickoff carries genuine October weight — and all eyes will be on number eight under centre.
The Rodgers–McCarthy story is one of the NFL’s great second acts. Together they won Super Bowl XLV in Green Bay, then watched the relationship fray before Rodgers’ departure. That they chose each other again — coach and quarterback, fifteen years on — is the kind of narrative the league rarely gets. Whether it ends in January football will be decided in games like this one.
