Last night, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco joined an exclusive club. The game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers featured two starting quarterbacks over 40 years old. That hasn’t happened too many times.
In fact, their combined age was the second-oldest in NFL history. Only Tom Brady and Drew Brees on January 17, 2021, as well as a few other matchups toward the end of Brees’ career, outdid Flacco and Rodgers. Both quarterbacks have taken incredibly winding roads to get here, and it produced a shockingly excellent matchup last night.
How Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers Performed in the Unc Bowl
Thursday Night Football has not exactly been known for marquee matchups. Far more often, the two teams that play one another put on a subpar product. A matchup between the Steelers and Bengals, with Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers under center, figured to be more of the same.
The Bengals have struggled without Joe Burrow, and the Steelers haven’t been dominant, but they were 4-1. What transpired was a pretty surprising contest that virtually ended on a last-second field goal.
Rodgers has been better than Flacco on the year, but Flacco outdid him last night. Rodgers completed 23 of 34 passes for 249 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. His QBR was 76.3. Flacco, on the other hand, completed 31 out of 47 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. He did not turn the ball over.
This was a back-and-forth game. The lead changed hands twice, and Pittsburgh grabbed the lead just before the two-minute warning. Unfortunately, that was more than enough time for Flacco and company to march down the field. Flacco’s 30th game-winning drive of his career took eight plays and shaved 2:14 off the clock. Evan McPherson made his 36-yard kick as part of a perfect 4/4 night to win it.
How Did We Get Here?
In the early 2010s, Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers were two of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. Rodgers appeared already on a Hall of Fame track, and while there was a long-running joke about whether Flacco was elite or not, he was good. If you had told anyone in that era that these two QBs would match up with one another in 2025, it would have sent them into shock.
Both of these QBs have at least contemplated retirement. Rumors swirled around Flacco retiring before he eventually resumed his career as a backup who eventually got starting jobs for teams that needed veterans. Rodgers expressly considered retirement ahead of the 2023 season. He went on a four-day darkness retreat to find out what he wanted to do in his NFL future. Obviously, he wanted to keep playing.
Rodgers and Flacco have both had very interesting NFL journeys. Rodgers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers to succeed Brett Favre, which he did after a while. In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Packers sought to redo the entire thing, drafting Jordan Love to sit behind Rodgers for a bit. The veteran QB was not terribly pleased about that, and he eventually requested a trade. The Packers sent him to the New York Jets (ironically following Favre, who went from the Packers to the Jets to make way for Rodgers in Green Bay), who’d endured enough of the Zach Wilson experiment as they could and were desperate to find a QB to match with their excellent defense.
But on the very first drive of Rodgers’ career with the Jets, he injured his Achilles and didn’t return until the next season, when he looked mediocre at best. His contract expired, and he hit free agency without a clear plan. Eventually, most teams that needed a quarterback had signed one, leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers as the only option, and they, much like the Jets, were desperate to find a QB who could pair with their solid defense and excellent coaching. Rodgers has been solid if unspectacular for the Steelers, but they’re 4-2, and he’s hardly the reason they lost last night.
Flacco also spent most of his career with one team: the Baltimore Ravens. In 2019, the Ravens selected Lamar Jackson in the first round. Later that season, Jackson made it into the starting lineup, and it quickly became his team. He would go on to win two MVP awards, so Baltimore clearly made the right decision. Flacco, though, wasn’t done playing.
He has since bounced around the league as a backup/bridge quarterback. He went to the Jets for three seasons after that, starting nine games. In 2023, he had his first stint in Cleveland, where he went 4-1 as a starter. In 2024, Flacco made six starts for the Indianapolis Colts, and then the retirement rumors really kicked in.
Obviously, Flacco wasn’t done yet, and he signed back with the Cleveland Browns and made six more starts. He began the season as the starter before being benched and subsequently traded to the rival Bengals, marking the third AFC North team he’s suited up for. The only one he hasn’t? The one he just beat on Thursday Night Football.
