Aaron Rodgers is playing under head coach Mike McCarthy, with whom he won a Super Bowl as members of the Green Bay Packers. Only this time, Rodgers and McCarthy are employed by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers are in the early portion of training camp, and on Monday, ESPN’s Pat McAfee, a Pittsburgh native, was in attendance with The Pat McAfee Show and had Rodgers on for an interview. However, as rowdy as McAfee can be, even he couldn’t have seen the direction Rodgers would take the conversation.
“A couple of times today, because you’ve been very open about coming back for this year, last rodeo, and you talked about your wife saying, ‘Hey, have another year.’ Mike McCarthy being here, obviously a big deal. Can you tell us about the mindset of coming into your last season?” McAfee asked the veteran quarterback.
“Like, that’s a real thing. It feels like, because is everything better? Is everything funner? Is everything more awesome? Like, how do you kind of view this year versus maybe the years of the past?”
From there, things went off the rails.
“I’m going to plead the Fifth,” Rodgers responded, referencing former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci pleading the Fifth over 100 times in a recent congressional hearing.
“That absolute coward, Tony Fauci,” Rodgers went on. “Absolute coward. Yeah. Are you kidding me?
“You got a pardon and you pleaded over 100 times at the White House? What are you scared of, Tony? I thought you were the science. I thought you were, ‘I am science,’ and you get up there and you can’t answer a question?
“And how much time did the network spend on that? How much time did they spend on my responses every week, on my vaccination status, on Taylor and Travis’s wedding? Yeah. Did they do even a minute? Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci?”
“I’m pleading the Fifth 😂😂
You’ve gotta be kidding me” ~ @AaronRodgers12 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/kg3y0uMxxR
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 3, 2026
Rodgers then appeared to call out ESPN for not covering the Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini scandal, before being implored to return to Fauci.
“Seriously, what are they going to say about me now? Now, now you can’t talk about the COVID stuff because obviously it was, it was made, you know, in a lab in China. That’s like not even questionable anymore. Tony Fauci is an absolute criminal. I’m on, I’m on good terms with my family. I’m on good terms with my family. What are you gonna say now? What are you gonna say now?…
“It’s been a great, great life and a great career, and it’s nice to be sitting on this side now, especially after that coward pleaded the Fifth over 100 times. Okay, I thought you had a part in there, Tony. Why couldn’t you, uh, answer one question the entire time?”
ESPN might advise McAfee not to have Rodgers on live television again this season.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.