The Pittsburgh Steelers hope they caught lighting in a bottle with veteran quarterback signing Aaron Rodgers, an addition franchise legend Ben Roethlisberger is anxious to watch unfold. Roethlisberger’s recent comments that Rodgers’ best years were more impressive than Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes went viral and sparked discussion around the NFL.
“I would take Aaron in his prime over Patrick now,” Roethlisberger said this week on his “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” podcast. “I think Aaron Rodgers, in his prime, was one of the top few to ever do it. So is Patrick Mahomes in his prime. Patrick Mahomes is just entering out of his prime. I think Patrick Mahomes is going to go down as another arguable GOAT.”
Crunching the numbers, Mahomes is well on his way to exceeding Rodgers in every major statistical category and up to this point, has played in 137 fewer games (133 total), including postseason starts. Mahomes already owns three Super Bowl titles over eight NFL seasons while Rodgers’ only championship over his 20-year career came at the end of the 2010 campaign with the Green Bay Packers.
The 2024 season was the only year of Mahomes’ career as a starting quarterback he failed to reach the Pro Bowl.
CAREER ACCOLADES | AARON RODGERS | PATRICK MAHOMES |
Wins | 164 | 106 |
MVPs | 4 | 3 |
Super Bowl titles | 1 | 3 |
Passing yards | 62,952 | 32,352 |
Touchdown passes | 503 | 245 |
Rodgers is a 10-time Pro Bowl selection, led the NFL in passer rating on four separate occasions and twice was the league’s leader in touchdowns (2016, 2020).
It’s difficult to determine Rodgers’ “prime” considering his heightened star power at different moments of his career, including his 4,643-yard, 45-touchdown season in 2011 and his 48-touchdown explosion in 2020 when he led the NFL in completion percentage (70.7) and several other categories.
Mahomes’ best came in 2018 when he eclipsed 5,000 yards passing and finished with 50 touchdowns. Four years later, Mahomes won another Super Bowl with 41 touchdown passes and a career-best 5,250 yards through the air.
Roethlisberger’s opinion resulted in a spirited response from NFL analyst and former Philadelphia Eagles star LeSean McCoy.
“Big Ben hates,” McCoy said this week on FS1. “One thing about Big Ben, you play 18 years, you have no All-Pros, not one, not one first-team, not one second-team. This is just me, I don’t respect players that talk about greats a certain way and you have nowhere the type of success they had. You played for 18 years, and you never was considered the best quarterback, or the second-best quarterback in football.”
To Roethlisberger’s point, Mahomes’ production has trailed off a bit in the two seasons since his 41-touchdown output. Last season included a career-worst 245.5 yards per game despite the Chiefs finishing 15-1 over his 16 regular-season starts prior to falling to the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
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Author: Brad Crawford
June 28, 2025 | 8:40 am
