I'm not sure about the "collective", as Pittsburgh enters yet another offseason of questions about Mike Tomlin's future, but one man was certainly feeling it after the No. 5 seed Houston Texans' defensive masterclass in Monday night's Wild Card game at Acrisure Stadium against the No. 4 seed AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
It was a tightly fought contest through the first three quarters, largely due to the fact that C.J. Stroud was fumbling what seemed like every other play whenever he and the Texans actually moved the ball down the field.
But with the Texans leading 7-6 in the fourth quarter and star wideout Nico Collins out with a concussion, the Houston defense took over.
Just ask Aaron Rodgers.
Before Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop lined up for a potential game-winning 44-yard field goal last Sunday night in Pittsburgh during what was the de facto AFC North championship game, NBC announcer Mike Tirico referenced the fact that Rodgers' career might well be coming to an end right before our eyes.
He is 42 years old, is not under contract beyond the 2025 season, and has been noncommittal about his future since even before signing with Pittsburgh over the offseason.
Then the kick went wide right, and the Steelers won the AFC North for the first time in 2020, securing their first home playoff game with fans in attendance since their 2017 AFC Divisional Round loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Their prize? A date with the No. 1-ranked defense in the NFL. For as happy as they deserved to be after ending their four-year division title drought, Rodgers and company quickly found out that that wasn't much of a prize when it came to postseason football.
Rodgers was brought down in the backfield four times for 36 yards, with Sheldon Rankins leading the way with 1.5 sacks, Danielle Hunter adding another, and Will Anderson Jr., Denico Autry, and Derek Barnett each credited with 0.5. His net passing total was 110 yards (17-for-33 for 146 yards), and his quarterback rating was 50.8, his second worst as a Steeler.
He fumbled twice (not unlike C.J. Stroud, who fumbled five times), but even though he only lost one of those fumbles (Stroud lost two), that fumble was returned 33 yards for a touchdown by Rankins after Rankins and Anderson combined for a 10-yard sack.
After an eight-play, 19-yard drive, which saw Rodgers sacked again and resulted in a Steelers punt, Woody Marks ran in a 13-yard touchdown for Houston to extend the lead to 24-6. But the damage wasn't done there, as Calen Bullock intercepted Rodgers on a pass intended for Pat Freiermuth, taking it 50 yards to the end zone.
With Ka'imi Fairbairn's missed extra point, the Texans won by a score of 30-6, consequently the same score as when they beat Pittsburgh in their most recent regular season contest in Houston back in October 2023.
Rodgers, an all-time great no matter how you slice it, was only asked about 100 times in his post-game press conference whether or not he plays to keep playing, and again, he remained non-committal. But what he did say was that he wasn't going to jump to an emotional decision.
And after facing Houston's defense on Monday night to conclude his 21st season in the league, we probably know what that emotional decision would be.