Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was visibly upset on the sideline after one possession against the New Orleans Saints, and he took matters into his own hands. It turns out this wasn’t the first time Rodgers has taken over the play calling from Steelers coach Mike McCarthy this season.

Sideline reporter Molly McGrath shared during the broadcast that Rodgers has called his own plays multiple times, citing Steelers wide receiver Germie Bernard. If you missed it during the game, here is what McGrath said.

Germie Bernard reveals Aaron Rodgers has been calling his own plays

“Steelers wide receiver Germie Bernard said this week that at the start of the Steelers’ fourth-quarter win last week, Aaron Rodgers told the huddle, ‘I’m gonna take over and call some plays.’ After their inability to punch it in on that last possession, he talked closely with head coach Mike McCarthy, looked at the play call sheet, pointed to some plays, huddled his wide receivers together, talking to them closely about what he wanted to see and being very vocal.”

So it’s clear that when Rodgers doesn’t like what McCarthy is saying into his headset, he is willing to go rogue and run the offense his way.

To be totally honest with you, I can’t blame him. I’m not saying McCarthy is a bad play caller. However, Rodgers has been there and done that, and he has earned the right to trust his own eyes when a drive stalls.

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Steelers offense was at its best when Rodgers ran the show in 2025

Think back to last season, when Arthur Smith called the plays for Pittsburgh. When were the Steelers at their best on offense? In the 2-minute drill, in 4-minute situations, and in the middle eight of the game.

You know why? Because Rodgers would essentially say, “Look, I’m going to orchestrate the offense.” That approach consistently produced Pittsburgh’s most efficient stretches.

Great quarterbacks have done this for decades, and Steelers fans should recognize it. Ben Roethlisberger did it all the time. Countless wide receivers and tight ends who played with him have said that Roethlisberger would get into the huddle, draw something up on the spot, and tell each guy exactly where to go.

That is what an experienced quarterback brings to Pittsburgh, and that is what Rodgers is doing.

Is this a shot at Mike McCarthy?

I don’t believe this is a knock on McCarthy’s play calling, and I don’t think it means Rodgers has lost faith in the design of McCarthy’s offense. In my opinion, this is simply Rodgers getting frustrated and leaning on what he sees from behind center.

He knows what the defense is doing. He’s the one on the field reading coverages and fronts in real time. So when the call from the sideline doesn’t match what’s in front of him, he takes over and orchestrates drives himself.

That is exactly what he did against New Orleans. He scrambled, ad-libbed, got out of the pocket, and picked up first downs with his legs. Rodgers acknowledged after the game that the offense simply wasn’t good enough, but he did what needed to be done on a day when the Steelers’ defense carried the load and dominated the Saints.

The way I see it, a 20-plus-year veteran taking the wheel in key moments shouldn’t worry anyone in Pittsburgh. It’s a feature of having Rodgers under center, not a flaw, and the Steelers should keep letting him use it when drives start to sputter.