Rodgers is Scar.
Sometimes we all reach a little too far for an analogy, and on Wednesday it seemed for a while like Ryan Clark’s thoughts on Aaron Rodgers were going to go totally off the rails.
Ryan Clark on Aaron Rodgers potentially joining the Steelers: “Mike Tomlin can work with anybody… but let’s say you put Scar on the team. You know, Scar from the Mufasa movie and The Lion King… Do you know what Scar’s name was before Scar? It was Taka. Do you know what Taka… pic.twitter.com/bbPvKJd11B
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 12, 2025
Look, I’ll be the first to initially think “oh man, this is making no sense” — but Ryan Clark has me totally buying in on this. Think about it: Scar was always jealous of Mufasa. He wanted to be the king of the lions. When it was clear that wasn’t happing he went about forming his own pride, his own crew — lurking around with hyenas who were willing to do whatever he wanted.
If Scar just accepted his role and supported his brother then the lions would have thrived. Instead his pursuit of power and glory came at the exchange of destroying everything. Now, I’m not going to say Aaron Rodgers would ensure Mike Tomlin fell off a cliff and into a stampeding herd of buffalo — but I’m also not, not saying it.
The truth is, Rodgers just doesn’t play well with others. Clark is astute in pointing out that there’s nothing to indicate that Rodgers and Arthur Smith would mesh, and that would result in a leadership struggle. Could Tomlin hold it together? Probably, but why even take that risk when you’re already a playoff team.
Pittsburgh doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room with aging vets on both sides of the ball. They unquestionably made a mistake at their QB position by letting Justin Fields walk, but they can still salvage this in a way that doesn’t involve bringing in the most divisive QB in the league.
