Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy exchange F-bombs early in Steelers loss to Browns

Those two lovebirds, Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy, were at it again Thursday night.

The Steelers were driving against the Cleveland Browns in a scoreless game in the first quarter, and Pittsburgh had just gotten a first down by penalty, very much in business at the Cleveland 20-yard line.

But Rodgers apparently didn't get the play call fast enough for his liking. This led to Rodgers and McCarthy exchanging pleasantries — within range of Amazon Prime's boom mics:

Whatever McCarthy called on that play didn't work out well: an incomplete pass. But everyone put that aside, and four plays later, Rodgers hit Roman Wilson on a 12-yard pop pass touchdown to give the Steelers the early 7-0 lead. In the end, despite a strong night from Rodgers, the Browns kicked a field goal in the final seconds to eke out a 27-24 win .

Rogers finished 22 of 40 for 299 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

When asked about his portion of the exchange, McCarthy apologized for his choice of words but seemed to suggest it was a heat-of-the-moment thing.

"Communication sometimes is not the best choice of words, but everybody's competing on the field," McCarthy said. "I think, you know, what's said on the field, the way I grew up in this game, you know, usually stays on the field.

"That's not the case today. I understand that. But, yeah, any negative communication on my part, I wish I wouldn't use those words."

Rodgers was not specifically asked about the exchange with McCarthy.

The Rodgers-McCarthy relationship — their first time working together since their Green Bay Packers days eight years ago — has had some testy moments recently. After the Week 2 loss to New England, Rodgers said he needed to do a better job "making sure Mike knows what's working, what's not working" as far as play-calling goes.

McCarthy had been fairly restrained comparatively. Until Thursday, that is.