Matt LaFleur comments on facing Aaron Rodgers: ‘I’m sure he’ll be telling everybody all our signals’

Matt LaFleur and his team face a unique challenge when they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8 of the 2025 season. In addition to facing a perennial playoff team on the road on prime time, LaFleur’s Packers will also be faced with the challenge of out-smarting their former quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, who signed with the Steelers less than a week ago. 

LaFleur — who said last month that he fully anticipated that Rodgers would ultimately with Pittsburgh — has not contacted his former quarterback since he signed with the Steelers. During Packers’ minicamp, LeFleur shared the unique test the Packers face.

“It’ll be a great challenge for us,” LaFleur said. “I’m sure he’ll be telling everybody all our signals, so we’ll probably have to be playing that mind game a little bit.”

LaFleur alluded to the chess match that often happens during a football game that is largely not seen by the fans watching either at home or on TV. While the outcomes of football games often come down to execution, games are also often decided by which team was able to outthink the other. 

In addition to Rodgers, the Steelers have another source of intel has far as Green Bay’s thinking is concerned. Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was the Titans‘ tight ends coach in 2018 while LaFleur was serving as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator. LaFleur wanted to bring Smith with him to Green Bay the following year, but Smith stayed in Nashville after the Titans promoted him to OC. 

As LaFleur alluded to, Rodgers will undoubtedly share whatever intel he has about the Packers with his new teammates and coaching staff. Conversely, LaFleur will share whatever nuggets he has on Rodgers with the Packers’ defense. That should make for a quality viewing, even for fans who don’t have a proverbial dog in the fight. 

Week 8 of the 2025 won’t be the first time that a great quarterback faced his old team/coach. As a member of the Chiefs, Joe Montana played against the 49ers two years after he was dealt from San Francisco to Kansas City. In 2009, as a member of the Vikings, Brett Favre faced Rodgers and Co. for the first time since his messy divorce from Green Bay over a year earlier. In Week 4 of the 2021 season, then-Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady went back to New England to match wits against Bill Belhchick while playing against franchise he had helped lead to six Super Bowl wins. 

Each of those quarterbacks won those aforementioned showdowns, and Rodgers will hope to follow suit when he faces his former team over four months from now.