Entering his 22nd NFL season -- or as Aaron Rodgers says, "his last rodeo" -- the 42-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback is on the cusp of joining several exclusive clubs as he moves up the ranks in the league record books.
In 2025, he passed former teammate Brett Favre to take sole possession of fourth place in career touchdown passes thrown with his 509th TD pass in the Week 3 win against the New England Patriots.
"Every now and then I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I've been playing a long time, and it's a longevity thing," Rodgers said before passing Favre's mark last season. "I'm proud of it, but not a big deal."
Rodgers also went on to supplant Ben Roethlisberger for fifth in all-time passing yards in the second quarter of the Thursday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 16, 2025.
But now, Rodgers is closing in on his final opportunities to add to that growing list of historic accomplishments.
Among the milestones in reach for Rodgers are becoming the fourth quarterback in NFL history to appear in 300 games (as of Week 3 he has appeared in 290), joining Tom Brady (383), Favre (326) and Drew Brees (305), throwing the fourth-most touchdown passes in NFL history (as of Week 3, he has 531) and having the second-most regular-season games with multiple touchdown passes. And after Week 3, he needs 3,026 yards to become the fifth player to reach 70,000 passing yards.
This season, we're chronicling Rodgers' individual milestones week by week as he rides his last rodeo. Follow along here for the weekly installments.
Preseason: 0-for-0, 0 yards, 0 INTs, 0 sacks, 0 rushes
Despite early hints that Rodgers would take the field during the Steelers' first preseason under McCarthy, the veteran quarterback instead spent two games on the sideline and one on his couch at home. With Rodgers' top two receivers in DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman Jr. sidelined with preseason injuries, McCarthy opted to also keep his quarterback under wraps.
Rodgers isn't a stranger to sitting out the preseason in recent years. He didn't play in any preseason games for the Steelers in 2025, nor for the New York Jets in 2024 following his season-ending left Achilles tear in Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Week 1: Steelers 20, Falcons 13
Rodgers' stat line: 221 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 2 sacks, 3 rushes for -1 yard
Rodgers didn't break any records this week, but he pulled within one touchdown pass of Peyton Manning for fourth most in NFL history with his second-quarter throw to tight end Pat Freiermuth for 6 yards. The touchdown toss was Rodgers' 232nd of the regular season. Rodgers had 26 pass attempts in the first half, his most attempts in the first half of a game since 2020 at Minnesota as a member of the Green Bay Packers, per ESPN Research.
After Sunday's game, coach Mike McCarthy said he wanted to find more balance in his offense, which ran the ball just 21 times to Rodgers' 40 pass attempts. Rodgers, though, didn't mind all the throwing.
"No, keep doing it," Rodgers said, urging his coach to keep calling passes. "Keep doing it."
And although Rodgers and the Steelers got the win, the quarterback struggled under the pressure from the Falcons' front. He completed 3 of 12 attempts under pressure and was sacked twice. And continuing the trend from last season, Rodgers was also 3-of-12 on throws of 15 or more air yards. Some of those incompletions, though, were the result of drops by his receivers.
"I liked the plan from Mike," Rodgers said. "I liked the playcalling. We took some shots. I felt like we had really close to having one of those really good games. If we come down with a couple of those, it obviously looks a little different on the scoreboard and stat sheet and stuff, but love my guys, love DK [Metcalf].
Week 2: Patriots 20, Steelers 3
Rodgers' stat line: 187 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, 4 sacks, 1 rush for 5 yards
Rodgers set two personal Steelers milestones in the team's Week 2 loss -- and not in a good way. Rodgers was off target on 26% of his throws (nine attempts) in the loss, his worst as a Steeler. The Patriots frustrated Rodgers with heavy pressures and blitzed on 19 of 44 dropbacks (43%), the second-highest rate he has faced with Pittsburgh. Against the blitz, he was 8-of-17 for 42 yards with two sacks and an interception. And he had his first interception against the blitz as a member of the Steelers.
"It's frustrating, for sure," Rodgers said of not getting into the end zone at New England on Sunday. "The defense has been playing great. They've been holding [opponents to] 13 points a game in two games, and offensively I think we're averaging like eight points a game. That's not winning football."
Week 3: Steelers 30, Bengals 27
Rodgers' stat line: 292 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 3 rushes for 10 yards
It turns out Rodgers still has plenty left in the tank. A week after one of his worst performances as a Steeler, Rodgers bounced back with three passing touchdowns to help the offense put up a season-best 30 points and 411 yards in the win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Rodgers aired it out in the first quarter with two touchdown throws and 143 passing yards -- the most he has thrown in the first quarter since Week 6 of 2018 against the 49ers (170). Each of his touchdown passes traveled at least 20 air yards, marking his first time with multiple touchdowns of 20-plus air yards since he joined the Steelers. Entering Sunday's game, Rodgers was 0-of-9 on pass attempts of 20-plus air yards.
"We definitely needed it because it was just uncharacteristic of us," Steelers wide receiver Ben Skowronek said of the offense's bounce-back performance. "Throughout camp, we felt really confident in what we were doing, moving the ball. And the first two weeks we just weren't us. So credit to the coaching staff, the guys in the building, we locked in this week and we knew we had to have it. We knew we could do it."
After two weeks without much movement in the record books, Rodgers is starting to make some headway. Sunday's win marked the 165th of his career, tying him with Ben Roethlisberger for fifth most by a starting quarterback since positions were first tracked in 1950. With his first-quarter 38-yard touchdown throw to Roman Wilson, Rodgers also recorded his 233rd career game with at least one passing touchdown, tying Peyton Manning for the fourth most such games in NFL history.
Week 4: at Cleveland Browns (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video)
With a 13-6 record in Thursday games, Rodgers enters the Week 4 matchup tied with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott for the second-most wins on Thursday in the Super Bowl era. The only person in front of him? Tom Brady with 14, meaning Rodgers can move into a tie for first place with a win in Cleveland.
Rodgers last played a memorable Thursday night game a season ago in Cincinnati when he and Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco dueled it out in the "Unc Bowl." Though the Steelers lost, Rodgers had one of his best games of the season. His 71.4 QBR was his second highest of the 2025 season -- trailing only the 72.8 he posted against the Browns a week earlier -- as he threw for 249 yards and tied a season best with four touchdown throws.
For his career, Rodgers averages 256 passing yards and completes 68% of his pass attempts in Thursday games. He also has a 69 total QBR on Thursdays.
So why is Rodgers so good on Thursdays? He said this week: "Probably because I'm so excited about the weekend off. I just suck it up for those three hours and then know you get a reward on the back end.
"I mean, it's not like I'm feeling excellent today. It's a Tuesday. Normally that's the recovery day. But yeah, I mean, I think it's part of the game now because of the money that's in it. We played a lot of games over the years on Thanksgiving or Thursday night games, so we expect to win a lot of those. We have, but it's nothing special. I think I'm just excited about the weekend."
Though he hasn't notched any significant milestones through the first three games of his final season, at 2-1 with a 42 total QBR, and a 58% completion percentage, Rodgers is right in line with several other final seasons of notable quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, who was 39 years old in his final season, started out 3-0 in 2015 with the Denver Broncos. Manning had a 55 total QBR and completed 64% of his pass attempts over the first three weeks. Both Rodgers and Manning were sacked eight times in that span, too, while Manning threw five passing touchdowns and three interceptions to Rodgers' four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Brady went 2-1 as a 45-year-old in 2022 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He posted a 48 total QBR with a 65% completion percentage, 673 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, one interception and six sacks.
By some metrics, Ben Roethlisberger's final season in Pittsburgh started off worse than those of Brady, Manning and Rodgers. Roethlisberger, then 39, went 1-2 to start the 2021 season with a 37 total QBR. He did, however, complete 64% of his attempts along with 801 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, three interceptions and eight sacks.