Three years ago, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers came to Detroit to take on the last-place Lions. The week prior, Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp had addressed the media to publicly back Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes, only for the team to get shutout in the second half of an ugly home loss to the Dolphins a few days later. The Lions were 4-19-1 under their new head coach-GM tandem. Fan frustration was mounting.
Rodgers strolled into Ford Field with a chance to twist the knife, as he had so many times before in his 18 seasons with the Packers. Then something funny happened. The Lions picked off Rodgers three times courtesy of two rookies, one named Aidan Hutchinson, the other named Kerby Joseph, on their way to a 15-9 win that sparked an 8-2 surge down the stretch.
You might remember the climax in Week 18: with nothing to play for but pride and the chance to keep the Packers out of the playoffs, the Lions went to Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football and ended the Packers' season and Rodgers' career in Green Bay with the whole world watching.
Now quarterbacking the Steelers, Rodgers will get a shot at payback when Pittsburgh visits Detroit on Sunday with the Lions' season hanging by a thread.
The crowd noise at Ford Field, Rodgers said this week, "wasn’t a big factor" in his "early years" with the Packers when the Lions were rarely a threat in the division.
"But I would say since Dan got there it’s been a different type of crowd. We were there when their run started going in 2022. We could’ve buried them and they beat us and went on a run there and finished the season hot and the next year they were in the NFC championship. Dan has obviously created a good culture there and the fans are believing and showing up early and really loud, so it’s a really good environment to play in," said Rodgers.
While Rodgers spent years tormenting the Lions, he said his relationship with Detroit fans "compared to Chicago is much less hostile, I would like to think."
"For our fans in Green Bay, I feel like they borderline hate Minnesota and they just have a complex with Chicago because it was always 'Big Chicago, Little Green Bay.' In Detroit it was always battles, but there wasn’t maybe the hatred that they have for Minnesota or Chicago," said Rodgers.
Lions fans might like to differ.
Rodgers, 42, has now spent half his life playing in the NFL. The league's all-time leader in passer rating (102.5), he's having another solid year in his first season with the Steelers: 22 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 98.8 rating. He's not the star he used to be, but he's still sharp as any quarterback in the game and he's leading a first-place team with the same record as the Lions.
Asked about Hutchinson, who sacked Rodgers twice in the season-finale in 2022, Rodgers called him "a game-wrecker" and a "fantastic player."
"He's making his way down the path of being a generational type player. He’s had a great career. Obviously had a tough injury last year, but he’s battled back, and he’s anything but a one-trick pony. He’s got all the moves (in the) pass rush: great spin move, cobra strike, speed to power. He’s a talented guy. He’s one of the few guys in the league you really gotta know where he’s at on every play," said Rodgers.
With a win Sunday, the Steelers would come one step closer to winning the AFC North for the first time since 2020, Rodgers would come one step closer to returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2021, and the Lions would be on the verge of missing them for the first time since 2022.
Surely, Rodgers would like to return the favor.