Rodgers remembers enjoyable Green Bay days with Packers

Steelers camp

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) fist bumps broad receiver Germie Bernard, left through the NFL group’s coaching camp in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has one remorse about beginning his ultimate NFL season with an exhibition recreation in opposition to the group that drafted him.

He would have most popular Thursday’s matchup with the Packers happen in Green Bay moderately than Pittsburgh. Rodgers wished to have one ultimate second within the place the place he spent his first 18 seasons and received 4 MVP awards and a Super Bowl.

“I was really hoping this one was going to be in Green Bay, not just to get back at Lambeau one more time, but to head out to Chives for a dinner and maybe head out to Green Bay Country Club for a quick nine or something,” Rodgers mentioned Wednesday in a Zoom session with Packers reporters. “I was really hoping it was going to be in Green Bay, for a lot of reasons.”

This would be the second time Rodgers has confronted his former group since leaving the Packers in 2023, although there is not any indication but on whether or not he’ll play tonight. Both video games had been in Pittsburgh, so Rodgers will head into retirement after this season having by no means performed in opposition to the Packers at Lambeau Field.

“It would have been strange, being in that locker room and stuff,” Rodgers mentioned. “But I might have discovered my means over, like many former gamers have through the years, discovered my means over to Flea’s (Packers head athletic coach Bryan Engel’s) workplace and hang around again there and see among the guys and see among the trainers and tools employees and all of the folks I actually care about that also work there.

“Yeah, I was definitely bummed out that we weren’t in Lambeau for this one.”

Rodgers’ Steelers had been defeated 35-25 by the Packers final October. Jordan Love, the quarterback Green Bay chosen within the first spherical of the 2020 draft to grow to be Rodgers’ eventual successor, threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns that night time.

When he was requested what he missed essentially the most about Wisconsin except for soccer and the followers, Rodgers talked about the home he owned throughout his Packers years, the meals he loved at Chives and the rounds of golf he performed. Then he turned the topic again towards soccer.

“The falls there are just awesome, when the weather gets that cool little nip,” Rodgers mentioned. “I beloved the night time video games at Lambeau, particularly the Sunday nights, Monday nights and occasional Thursday nights. Just a lot enjoyable. There’s nothing like that crowd. I’ve been different locations, I knew that once I was in Green Bay, however there’s nothing like that fan base and the way in which they journey and the crowds at dwelling.

“Players around the league, they talk about how special it is to play at Lambeau, and sometimes you might miss that or forget about that when you’re playing because it becomes so normal to have such an amazing crowd and they’re tailgating and they’re loud and they rarely sell their tickets to other teams’ fans. There’s a lot of great things about Wisconsin. I grew up there, really, and became a little more mature as an adult over the years there and had a great time and still have a lot of close friends there, a lot of fond memories.”

Rodgers did play his different former group as a visiting participant final season when he made his Steelers debut and led Pittsburgh to a 34-32 victory over the New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Rodgers was with the Jets from 2023-24 after they acquired him from Green Bay, although he missed nearly all of 2023 after tearing his Achilles tendon within the season opener.

The Steelers host the Jets on Aug. 21 of their second preseason recreation.