Steelers' Aaron Rodgers opens up about feelings on Packers after 'SNF' loss

Leading up to the Week 8 "Sunday Night Football" game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, much was made about whether or not Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers viewed the contest against his former club as a potential revenge spot. 

After Pittsburgh fell to 4-3 on the season via a 35-25 defeat at Acrisure Stadium, Rodgers acknowledged that it was "good to see a lot of people that I grew up with in the league" before Sunday's matchup kicked off.

Aaron Rodgers addresses "special" friendships with Packers staffers

"This game is about relationships, so some of my dearest friends are not players," Rodgers explained, per Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "And the guys who were still over there -- I didn't have much time with many of those guys. I had J-Lo [quarterback Jordan Love] in the room with me for three years, but most of those guys were young guys, other than (pass-rusher) Rashan Gary, who played with me for a few years. The guys that I spent 18 years with, training staff, equipment staff, nutritionist, [pass game specialist] Connor Lewis, who was in our room for a while, [senior assistant] Luke Getsy was there. ... Guys I spent a lot of time with. Those friendships are special, and it was good to see those guys."

Shortly after Rodgers guided the Steelers to a Week 1 win over the New York Jets in September, he admitted that he was "happy to beat everybody associated" with the franchise that unceremoniously parted ways with him at the start of the new league year in March. While the end of Rodgers' Green Bay tenure was rather tumultuous, he insisted last week that he didn't have any extra motivation to beat the team that traded him to the Jets back in the spring of 2023. 

Aaron Rodgers praises Jordan Love after "SNF" clash

As for Love, the 2020 first-round draft choice had Rodgers as a mentor through the 2022 season. On Sunday night, Love completed 29-of-37 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns to outduel the future Hall of Famer and help the Packers improve to 5-1-1.

"He played great, played fantastic," Rodgers added about Love, according to ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "He's had a really nice season. He's been really efficient with the football. He's opportunistic, though I felt like he was very patient tonight. He took the run solutions, he took the checkdowns, moved in the pocket well. Thought he played really well."

While the Steelers remain atop the AFC North standings, they've now suffered back-to-back losses heading into a home game versus the red-hot Indianapolis Colts (7-1) on Nov. 2. As of Monday morning, ESPN BET had Pittsburgh as a 3.5-point underdog for that contest. 

Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen wasn't thinking about the Colts while speaking with reporters after Sunday's loss. 

"We all knew what it meant," Queen said about Rodgers facing the Packers. "That's the stuff that kind of stings the most. You want to go get that for him. ... You want to go get it for him. So that definitely stings. Definitely stings."