The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to look very different next season. After this year’s Wild Card round loss to the Houston Texans stretched the franchise’s drought of playoff wins to a full decade, longtime head coach Mike Tomlin stepped down from the job.

The Steelers have since hired Mike McCarthy as Rodgers’ replacement. Interestingly enough, the Steelers’ quarterback this season, four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers, had his most success working with McCarthy in Green Bay.

Rodgers may retire, but if he doesn’t, he’ll be a free agent this offseason, paving the way for a potential reunion. However, Steelers owner Art Rooney II, doesn’t want another one of Rodgers’ infamous drawn-out decisions looming over the offseason, and has officially announced the timeline in which he wants to have some clarity on the situation.

“We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision,” Rooney said, according to the Steelers’ official website. “We’ll see where Aaron is, and we’ve left the door open, but obviously we all have to sit down and see if that makes sense.

“So that’ll happen sometime in the next month or so. But the decision was made based on Mike being the coach we want, and it really had very little to do with whether Aaron is going to be back or not.”

What does Rodgers think of a reunion?

Interestingly, Rodgers revealed during the regular season that he still has a close relationship with McCarty.

“I told Mike, I wish I had him for 15 years of my career,” Rodgers said. “And that’s no shot to anybody ahead of him. Mike McCarthy and I were real close, still are. I love Mike, but I wish I could have played 30 (years) and had 15. I had 13 with Mike McCarthy. Would’ve been cool to have 13 with Mike Tomlin.”

Will Howard-sized wrench

Rooney also discussed rookie quarterback Will Howard, who McCarthy is apparently eager to work with.

“He likes Will Howard, thinks Will has tremendous upside and is looking forward to working with him,” Rooney said regarding McCarthy. “Obviously feels like Mason [Rudolph] can be a contributor. We’ll have to sit down and discuss where Aaron is, if he decides to come back, and whether that all makes sense. I think Mike was very comfortable with the quarterback room and the possibilities with the quarterback room. In particular, the fact we have a young quarterback on the roster in whom he sees some upside.”

It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.