After the Steelers plodded to a 25-10 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday night, coach Mike Tomlin was asked to assess the performance of his quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.

“How would you?” Tomlin replied. “Next.”

OK. Not exactly Tommy Lasorda talking about Dave Kingman. But we get the point.

Anyone who watched the game could see Rodgers had a bad outing. Rodgers was 16 of 31 for 161 yards. He threw two interceptions and had one touchdown and absorbed three sacks, including a safety. His passer rating of 50.6 was the seventh-lowest of any start he has had in his 21-year career.

“I didn’t play very good at all. I have got to play better,” Rodgers admitted after the defeat.

Despite extensive criticism of the prolonged process to sign him last spring, things have been very stable with Rodgers in Pittsburgh since he arrived.

Granted, Rodgers has frequently cautioned Steelers fans and media members to avoid “riding the rollercoaster” of the NFL season. And things have been particularly up-and-down in Pittsburgh as the local club has been maddeningly inconsistent en route to a 5-4 start halfway through the campaign.

That hasn’t been the case for Rodgers individually, though. Largely, his play has been steady. While the defense, the offensive line and the run game have fluctuated, what the Steelers have gotten from the 41-year-old quarterback has constantly been above the line.

That wasn’t the case Sunday. His throws were erratic, and his decision-making was spotty. That’s not just my opinion or that of the collective social media think tank. Rodgers made similar statements about his own play, knocking his own read of the situation on the safety, a pair of failed throws to DK Metcalf, as well as numerous other missed targets on the night.

“I expect to play great every single week, and this was not my best performance. I’ve got to play better than this for us to win,” Rodgers said.

Yes. Significantly. Especially with Pittsburgh’s limited weapons and sporadic blocking up front, a lot of the success or failure of the offense is on Rodgers’ shoulders.

That’s a lot to ask of a QB in his 40s, and part of the reason why the decision to acquire him was questioned in the first place.

We just witnessed 36-year-old Russell Wilson fall off a cliff following a great start last year. No one wants to watch that same movie again.

Every quarterback that has come through Pittsburgh from Terry Bradshaw to Kenny Pickett will tell you that eight weeks of harmony at any stretch of a career is one heckuva run. Rodgers enjoyed that right out the gates, even though the team suffered three losses in eight tries under some agitating circumstances — with eight years of a playoff-win drought as an ever-present, underlying complication.

This week will be different. It already has been. Rodgers has taken most of the blame for how the Steelers played in L.A., not just from fans and local media.

Nationally, the commentary about his game was extreme as the whole country watched the Sunday night affair. Keep in mind, the Steelers have failed on a primetime stage three times this season. That hasn’t helped the perception of where this team is sailing with Rodgers at the helm.

When things got bad during last year’s five-game season-ending death spiral with Wilson in command, outwardly, there wasn’t much QB-related tension. That’s probably because Wilson’s two-dimensional, public-relations A.I. bot persona of “What? Me? Worry?” is unshakeable.

Behind the scenes, though, as was later discovered, there was some discord over play calling, offensive design and control at the line of scrimmage.

Rodgers isn’t wired like Wilson. He can certainly apply PR spin when needed, but he doesn’t play the wink-and-grin game like Wilson has at every stop he’s had. If something bothers Rodgers, he’ll let it be known.

Whether that’s through the press, or demonstrably on the field — as we have already seen on a few occasions this year.

How will that go? We’ll see. There are still eight weeks to go before the playoffs. I’m a bit dubious.

“There’s ebbs and flows; there’s ups and downs. We can’t ride the wave,” Rodgers emphasized on Sunday night.

I guess we’ve moved from rollercoasters to waves? Either way, Rodgers’ point is clear.

We aren’t near an ocean in Pittsburgh. But this time of year, we can often see whitecaps on the Monongahela when it gets windy.

How difficult it is to navigate the river might come down to how blustery Rodgers gets in the face of what has been rare pushback to his tenure in Pittsburgh so far.

That goes for public perception and, more importantly, behind closed doors.

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Chris Adamski react to Mike Tomlin’s press conference before Sunday’s rematch against Cincinnati.

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