‘All systems go’: Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers will start Sunday vs. Bills

“All systems go.”

Using that phrase, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin announced that Aaron Rodgers will start Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. The four-time NFL MVP quarterback was a full participant at Friday’s practice, Tomlin said, and will carry no injury designation on the league-mandated status report for Sunday’s crucial AFC game at Acrisure Stadium.

Aaron Rodgers will start for the Steelers at QB against the Bills

“All systems go” pic.twitter.com/Oum1IYfpt3

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) November 28, 2025

Rodgers, who turns 42 on Tuesday, sat out this past week’s defeat at the Chicago Bears because of a fracture in his left (non-throwing) wrist suffered during the Nov. 16 home win against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In Rodgers’ stead over the second half of that game and the ensuing full contest in Chicago, Mason Rudolph completed 36 of 47 passes for 298 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble on a strip sack.

Though Tomlin had expressed optimism both after the loss to the Bears and during his weekly Tuesday news conference that Rodgers would play against Buffalo, Rodgers did not practice Wednesday. But he was a full participant in the final two practices of the week and is in line to make his 252^nd career start in a game that has playoff implications for both the Steelers (6-5) and Bills (7-4).

“I’ve had more days for the callus to form and more healing,” Rodgers said earlier this week in explaining why he was more likely to play Sunday than he was a week earlier. Especially you know, Monday and Tuesday, just doing rehab.”

Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers seeks 'different outcome' as he prepares to return to lineup https://t.co/ZchUqmKqKV

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) November 27, 2025

Signed in June as the Steelers’ fifth different Week 1 starter over the past five seasons, Rodgers through 10 games already had the most touchdown passes (19) of any Steelers quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger retired after the 2021 season. He’s completed 66.4% of his passes for 1,969 yards with seven interceptions.

Before he was injured, Rodgers was on pace for 34 touchdown passes this season — a number that would have tied Roethlisberger (2018) for the most by a Steelers quarterback in a single season.

“It was good. Glad to see him back doing his thing,” starting running back Jaylen Warren said of Rodgers’ practice time this week. “Obviously, we had to alter little things, but there weren’t any major issues.”

One of those alterations was a much heavier reliance on shotgun (or pistol formation) snaps because Rodgers is compromised in accepting snaps from under center. Rodgers and Tomlin have discussed Rodgers having comfort in his ability to protect himself as a critical milestone in getting the green light to play.

A less-discussed issue is Rodgers’ ability to pitch the ball to running backs. He might be forced to do so via a one-handed, backhanded method.

“Every pitch is different, (regardless of injury),” Warren said. “You see the ball get thrown, you just catch it. ‘Get the ball’ is the objective. So it’s not something that we haven’t seen before because of the (different way the ball is) spinning.”

Rodgers described his wrist as being in a cast, and he’s been wearing a compression brace over it while practicing. On Friday, Rodgers was in the locker room spotted using his left hand functionally — for example, holding a water bottle.

Last week, Rodgers went into the weekend with a questionable designation to play in Chicago. Tomlin said he decided Saturday that Rodgers would not play, and word leaked about two hours before kickoff.

Tomlin explained why his decision regarding Rodgers this week is different than it was seven days prior.

“Just more reps (by Rodgers), certainly,” Tomlin said. “But certainly, it’s another week, and so I’m sure there’s more comfort there, not only in him but in the medical experts.”