GREEN BAY, Wis. — For all that Aaron Rodgers has done in his career, he has never started a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lambeau Field nor has he played against Ben Roethlisberger in nearly 11 years.
That will change Sunday, barring injury or anything else unforeseen, when the Steelers play at the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
When they finally square off as opposing quarterbacks, it will be the longest time between matchups of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks in history: 10 years and 239 days.
Given that the Packers play the AFC North teams only every four years, Rodgers missed the 2013 game at Lambeau Field because of his first broken collarbone and then missed the 2017 in Pittsburgh because of his second broken collarbone.
Other than the Super Bowl, the only other Rodgers-Roethlisberger game came in 2009, when the Steelers beat the Packers 37-36 with a Roethlisberger-to-Mike-Wallace touchdown on the game’s final play after Rodgers had given the Packers a 36-30 lead on a 24-yard Rodgers-to-James-Jones touchdown with 2:06 left.
The Steelers are the only team that Rodgers has never started against at Lambeau Field.
“It is strange how that happened, ’13 and ’17 obviously breaking my collarbone and [missing] both of those games,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I remember the ’09 game very well. We were pretty explosive on offense, hit Greg down the middle for I think it was an 85-yard touchdown, then hit J.J. on a post late in that game to put us ahead, and then Big Ben took them down to beat us there right at the end. That was a good football game.”
The previous longest span between meetings of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks was Doug Williams vs. Joe Montana (eight years and 26 days), according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Rodgers, after quickly scanning the Steelers’ roster, said he believes Roethlisberger is the only remaining Steelers player left from Super Bowl XLV, and he’s right. Rodgers and kicker Mason Crosby are the only Packers remaining from that game.
“Of course the whole cliché everybody says, ‘The quarterbacks are against each other,’ and then we will say, ‘No, we play against the defense,'” Roethlisberger said. “But it’s still an honor to share a stadium with one of the greatest and a guy that I admire, and a lot of people admire, that has done it at such a high level for a long time. It’s pretty cool to watch his mastery of the game. I just hope this week our defense can hold up and may have something to say about it.”
ESPN’s Brooke Pryor contributed to this report