Friday Night Happy Hour: Mini-bye bounce back edition

Welcome back to BTSC’s Friday night open thread:

1. With a few extra days to get over last week’s disappointing loss, the Steelers host the Packers on Sunday Night Football this week, hoping to bounce back into the win column. The schedule makers knew what they were doing, making this a prime-time game, even if Aaron Rodgers is downplaying the significance of playing against Green Bay for the first time in his career. I suppose it is some semblance of mercy that the schedule makers didn’t make the Steelers travel to Green Bay for this reunion. Meanwhile, for as bad as Mike Tomlin seemingly is in Thursday night games, his teams are 8-3 all-time in games following a TNF loss. Do you think the Steelers come away with a win this week, why or why not?
2. We’ve started to hear whispers this week through the media that the Steelers would be open to Rodgers returning for the 2026 season — remember when we had the same whispers about Russ? Would you want Rodgers back for another season? I personally appreciate his performance this season, but would be skeptical about a return. For starters, I’d like to just get to the next era of Steelers football sooner rather than later, and that means finding a young quarterback. I also have the irrational notion that Rodgers’ career has eerily reflected Brett Favre’s career. Favre struggled with the Jets but then led his third team to the conference championship game his first year there. However, things fell off a cliff for him in year two with the Vikings and he retired after that season. So while I acknowledge the two quarterbacks aren’t actually linked mystically, my irrational fan brain has me wondering if Rodgers would have a similar result.
3. The trade deadline is near, and thinking about Rodgers in the black and gold reminds me that he was a player I never thought would suit up for our team. Rather than trying to predict any realistic trades, let’s run this thought exercise: Who is a current star player on another team that you would love to see don the Steelers’ helmet and jersey? It doesn’t have to be a player they realistically could get right now; in fact, the more surprising the pick, the better.
4. This weekend, the girlfriend and I are finally going to take the time to do some fall activities and get out to a pumpkin patch. It’ll be back to Ryland’s turn next weekend during actual Halloween, but I still want to hear about what some of your favorite fall/Halloween season activities are. Out here in Washington, I’m a big fan of going to pumpkin patches that have orchards as well, as not much beats some hot apple cider on a crisp fall day. Are there any local traditions you enjoy in the fall where you’re from? Do you enjoy watching scary movies? I’m going to try to watch Pan’s Labyrinth this weekend. It isn’t a...