Steelers Open 2026 Preseason vs. Packers With McCarthy-Rodgers Reunion on the Line

Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers are about to see the Green Bay Packers logo across the field from them for the first time since they left Wisconsin. The Pittsburgh Steelers open their 2026 preseason on Thursday night against the Packers at Acrisure Stadium, and for the head coach and quarterback who built their legacies together in Green Bay, this exhibition opener carries a weight most preseason games don’t.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, and according to Lombardi Ave’s Packers training camp tracker, the game will be broadcast on NFL Network.

McCarthy and Rodgers Face Their Old Team

McCarthy spent 13 seasons as Green Bay’s head coach, winning Super Bowl XLV with Rodgers at quarterback. Rodgers played 18 seasons for the Packers before stops with the Jets and now Pittsburgh. Thursday marks their first shared preseason game since 2018, Sportsnet Pittsburgh reported, and it comes with an extra layer: Green Bay is walking into Acrisure Stadium to face the two men who once ran the franchise.

Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur, the players and coaches now leading that Green Bay operation, will be on the opposite sideline. Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday he expects starters, including Love, to play at least a little against Pittsburgh, according to Yahoo Sports. LaFleur added a caveat that’s become his standard line on lineup plans: “I always have the right to change my mind.”

Will Rodgers Actually Play?

The bigger question in Pittsburgh isn’t the reunion storyline — it’s whether Rodgers takes a single snap. The 42-year-old hasn’t played meaningful preseason football since 2018, his final year under McCarthy in Green Bay, and sat out all of the 2025 preseason under former coach Mike Tomlin.

Earlier this month, Rodgers told The Athletic’s Michael Silver that McCarthy had asked him to play in the team’s first two preseason games, against the Packers and the Jets, two of his former teams. “He (wants me out there for) 30 or 40 plays,” Rodgers said, via NFL.com. “I said, ‘Mike, if you want me to play, I’ll play.’ I’m not saying I want to do it. But if he wants me to, I will.”

That plan sounded firmer weeks ago than it does now. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Rodgers said he sees no real advantage to playing in the preseason at all, according to Heavy.com. McCarthy, for his part, framed the decision as something the two sides have been working through since Rodgers signed. “We’ve been talking about playing or not playing since he signed,” McCarthy said. “I mean, he prefers to play. Brett Favre wanted to play. I’ve never had a quarterback that did not want to play.”

To be clear, Rodgers never said outright that he doesn’t want to play — his comments landed closer to indifferent than opposed. McCarthy has stopped short of confirming a plan either way. “Those decisions are really gonna be made once we get up to it,” he said, via Sportsnet Pittsburgh. “Trust me, I have a lot of ideas… We have plans, but being a healthy system, let’s see what happens. A lot can happen between now and then.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Steelers had not announced their plan for who plays Thursday, Heavy.com reported. If Rodgers does suit up, it will be his first preseason action since a brief 2023 appearance with the Jets — two drives, five completions on eight attempts, 47 yards and a touchdown against the Giants.

What’s at Stake for Pittsburgh

This preseason opener means something different for the Steelers organization than it does for most teams running out backups in mid-August. McCarthy is the first new head coach Pittsburgh has hired in over two decades, replacing Mike Tomlin, who stepped down after 19 seasons following a wild-card loss to Houston last January. Everything about training camp under McCarthy — the terminology, the practice structure, the depth chart — is new.

That context is part of why McCarthy keeps steering conversations away from the sentimental angle and back toward execution. Regardless of the Green Bay ties, his focus is on cleaning up the fundamentals before Week 1 matters. Behind Rodgers, the QB2 competition between Mason Rudolph and Will Howard remains unresolved, and rookie Drew Allar is also fighting for a roster spot — which adds real stakes to how many preseason snaps go around at that position, not just to McCarthy and Rodgers.

The Steelers play three preseason games in 2026: the Packers on Aug. 13, the Jets on Aug. 21, and the Bills on Aug. 27, with two of the three at home in Pittsburgh.

What to Watch Thursday Night

On the Packers’ side, Green Bay is coming off a difficult finish to last season, following what Yahoo Sports described as a rough Wild Card exit against the Chicago Bears. Green Bay enters this preseason with real injury questions to monitor, including situations involving Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft and Javon Bullard, per Heavy.com’s injury coverage. Bullard has been spotted in a walking boot at practice but has said the issue is precautionary and he’d be able to play if needed.

For Pittsburgh, the story is less about who starts and more about whether McCarthy sticks to his stated priority. Asked repeatedly about the emotional pull of facing his old team, he’s consistently redirected the conversation toward the mundane mechanics of running a clean football team — not the reunion narrative that outside coverage keeps circling back to.