30-6. Some scorelines tell stories that would rather be forgotten or buried. But for the Pittsburgh Steelers, that playoff defeat to the Houston Texans was more than a loss. It felt like the closing act of a season that had promised far more. As the game slipped away, Steelers’ QB Aaron Rodgers gave way to Mason Rudolph, and the substitution sparked a question that lingered well beyond the final play: Had football fans just witnessed the final game of Rodgers’ storied NFL career?

But there was more to the story behind that game, and none of it would have come forth if it weren’t for Rodgers’ confession to The Athletic. He admitted he was ill before the game and experienced fever and vomiting. Though the quarterback insisted he recovered before kickoff, the fact that sickness was not reported to the league by the team has now become a topic of discussion.

That’s why Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio believes the team is in line for a punishment for non-disclosure of Rodgers’ illness.

For now, the NFL has chosen not to comment. But as Florio pointed out, silence should not be mistaken for inaction. The league could still launch an internal investigation, and if it determines that a required disclosure was withheld, significant fines may follow.

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“The league has no choice but to investigate,” Florio reported. “If the reporting is true (and it is, we’ve confirmed), the league will have no choice but to act. Any other approach amounts to the league looking the other way on the Steelers concealing an important piece of inside information.”

The NFL has walked this path before, and history suggests it has not hesitated to act when disclosure rules are found to have been violated.

In 2023, the NFL fined the Atlanta Falcons $75,000 and then-head coach Arthur Smith $25,000 after the team failed to disclose that running back Bijan Robinson was dealing with an illness. The team was going to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So, if the league determines that a similar disclosure violation occurred this time, the consequences would be big financial penalties.

Many hoped Rodgers would mimic Michael Jordan’s 1997 ‘Flu Game’

Some performances transcend the box score and become part of sporting folklore. Michael Jordan’s ‘Flu Game’ in the 1997 NBA Finals is one of them. Battling flu-like symptoms, dehydrated and visibly drained, Jordan somehow scored 38 points against the Utah Jazz. It was a masterclass in basketball.

“I almost played myself into passing out just to win a basketball game,” Jordan later said.

Seeing Aaron Rodgers in a similar situation, his teammates and coaches hoped he could produce a miracle just like Jordan. They hoped experience and resilience would script another unforgettable performance. But this story followed a different path. The miracle never came, and neither did the fairytale ending.

What did Aaron Rodgers say about his illness?

Rodgers told The Athletic’s Michael Silver how he felt leading up to the game.

“I wasn’t feeling good, and I actually came over to the team hotel, and they sent me home — probably because I was pale and looked like s—.”

He was also vomiting and had a fever.

However, he mentioned he felt better by kickoff time. He tried his best to stay in form for the game. However, he completed only 17 of 33 passes for 146 yards. He threw no touchdowns, was intercepted once, and was sacked four times. His underwhelming performance even elicited a direct reaction from the former offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. 

“He’s definitely downplaying it,” Smith weighed in on Rodgers’ pre-game condition. “There was never a question he was gonna play, and he’s never one to complain, but he looked terrible [before the game].” 

The Steelers have been on the wrong side of things for a related incident. In 2019, former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was not listed on the report during practice before the Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks, which he left midway. The NFL fined the Steelers $75,000 and former head coach Mike Tomlin another $25,000. He was absent from practice on Wednesday, but returned on Thursday and Friday.

Ahead of the game, Roethlisberger was never listed as out, doubtful, or questionable in the injury report.

Whether the NFL ultimately chooses to investigate the Steelers this time remains to be seen.