Steelers' Aaron Rodgers now facing league discipline after controversial postgame comments

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a division title within reach, but they may have just fumbled it away. Against a three-win Cleveland Browns team, the offense laid a massive egg, which resulted in a 13-6 loss. Now, that sets up what is essentially a playoff game in Week 18, where the winner moves on to the wild-card round, and the loser goes home with absolutely nothing. A win against the Browns would have secured the division early for Pittsburgh, but now, it has to fight against its fiercest rival at home. 

During a postgame press conference, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked about the final sequence to lose the game, which ended up being three consecutive incompletions to Marquez Valdez-Scantling in the end zone. The two clearly were not in sync at all on either of those plays, but the veteran passer refused to throw himself or his receiver under the bus, criticizing the officiating crew after an intriguing fourth-down no-call.

"That was definitely interference [on fourth down]," Rodgers said. "I'll have to look at the film on second and third down."

Rodgers opted to call out the referees in the contest, which almost always results in a fine, even though officials have definitely not had their greatest season in 2025. The quarterback wanted a pass interference call on the Steelers' final offensive play of the game, which would have given the Steelers first and goal from the one-yard line, but it never happened, and the game ended in a brutal loss that completely changed the complexion of the AFC North.

On one hand, Rodgers should not be calling out officials. The Steelers scored six points in the whole game, including getting shut out in the second half. He was bad in the game, and the coaching was not good, either. The receivers also were not on the same page as Rodgers constantly. The unit should take the majority of the blame for failing to get into the end zone all day long.

The part about being not on the same page was emphasized with Valdez-Scantling. Even before that final drive, the two had trouble connecting throughout the contest. Rodgers would throw the ball in one spot, and the veteran wideout would end up in a different spot. With how bad the miscommunication was, they were lucky that the ball never got intercepted.

Steelers may have a legitimate gripe

On the other hand, the officials did have a bad game. It started early on, when a flag was thrown on the Steelers for offensive pass interference, which wiped out a big play. Later in that sequence, the referee seemingly made a make-up call by calling the Browns for taunting, which extended that drive. They got the right result from the drive, but with the wrong reasons. 

Later on, the Browns were backed up in their own end, but defensive captain Cameron Heyward was flagged for roughing the passer via the body weight rule when he was trying to sack quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Expecting a massive defensive line to just pull up mid-hit is just not realistic, and the rule has become a massive problem all over the league. That became the case in this situation, too.

In the end, the officials did not decide the game, and the Steelers only have themselves to blame for scoring six points. However, the lack of consistency with officials is so annoying for literally everyone in the NFL. Certain rules, like pass interference, get called into question nearly every week, and nobody has a straightforward answer for what it is anymore. Pittsburgh needs to be better, but so do the referees in each game.