Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin yells encouragement during NFL football practice in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH — Aaron Rodgers and Mike Tomlin share a competitive stubbornness. An inherent arrogance, too.

While that hardly makes them outliers in the alpha-driven NFL, their ability to keep the realities of the game they have helped define at bay for so long does.

Coaches aren’t supposed to go nearly two decades without experiencing a losing season. Tomlin has.

Quarterbacks aren’t supposed to recover from an Achilles injury in their 40s and return to throw for nearly 4,000 yards. Rodgers did.

Maybe they have long sensed this shared “otherness.” Maybe that’s why they’ve made it a point during their occasional professional meetings t

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