Steelers in Crisis: Aaron Rodgers Injury, Bills Blowout and ‘Fire Tomlin’ Chants Put Pittsburgh’s 2025 Playoff Push in Jeopardy

The Pittsburgh Steelers woke up on December 1, 2025 facing intense scrutiny despite sitting squarely in the AFC playoff race, after an ugly loss to the Buffalo Bills that left both their season and their star quarterback under fresh question marks. Late Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers absorbed a vicious third-quarter hit that briefly knocked him from the game and amplified existing concerns over his already fractured left wrist, setting the tone for a restless fan base heading into Monday.

Rodgers was driven into the turf on a first-and-10 dropback, coughing up a fumble that the Bills quickly turned into a touchdown. He left the field bloodied, with a visible injury to his nose, as backup Mason Rudolph stepped in for a series before Rodgers returned with a bandage and continued to play. The episode underscored the risk the Steelers are taking by riding a 41-year-old quarterback who is already managing multiple fractures in his non-throwing wrist, with reports detailing at least three separate breaks suffered in a Week 11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

Even before Sunday’s hit, the decision to let Rodgers continue starting had become one of the day’s central storylines around the league. Despite the injury, Pittsburgh’s staff gave him the nod against Buffalo, a “surprise call” that drew national attention given his age and the long-term stakes of a potential postseason run. The calculation appeared to be that Rodgers, even at less than 100 percent, still gave the Steelers their best chance to win in a tightly packed AFC North.

On the scoreboard, though, the gamble didn’t pay off. The Bills held a 23–7 lead in the fourth quarter as Rodgers tried to rally a stagnant offense, and the Steelers’ home crowd grew audibly restless. At Acrisure Stadium, some fans broke into “Fire Tomlin” chants as the game slipped further away, a striking public rebuke of longtime head coach Mike Tomlin, who has never posted a losing season in Pittsburgh but has not delivered a playoff win since the 2016 campaign.

For Tomlin and the Steelers, Monday now becomes less about style points and more about survival. The team remains in the thick of the playoff picture thanks to earlier-season wins and help elsewhere in the conference, but another high-profile prime-time stumble has sharpened every question about the team’s direction, the handling of Rodgers’ health, and whether a franchise famous for stability is inching toward its most consequential crossroads in years.