The Minnesota Vikings are a good team. A 14-3 group from 2024 that came to Dublin with a 2-1 record; their defense was ranked in the NFL's top 10 in eight categories, including points allowed per game; and their offense was No. 6 in points scored per game. Their head coach is considered one of the true innovative offensive minds in the NFL, and their defensive coordinator draws raves for his schemes and aggressive usage of them.
On a beautiful, festive, and historic afternoon on the pitch at Croke Park, the Steelers were better.
The final score was 24-21, which was good enough for a victory and a 3-1 record heading into their bye week. And this time there was no need to have to listen to whining about how it looked. Not that there still won't be some, mind you.
Offensively, the running game was productive from an individual standpoint, with Kenneth Gainwell and Kaleb Johnson combining for 121 yards on 25 carries (4.8 average), and from a team standpoint (11 of their 19 first downs and 2 of their three touchdowns resulted from the ability to run the ball efficiently). And all of this even though starter Jaylen Warren was a game day inactive after showing up on the practice report with a knee injury.
DK Metcalf had his best game with the Steelers. His 5 catches on 5 targets for 123 yards (25.2 average) included an 80-yard touchdown as well as receptions for 17, 14, and 11 yards.
Aaron Rodgers turned in another solid statistical performance by completing 18-of-22 (81.8 percent) for 200 yards, with 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions, and a rating of 119.7. His ability to use cadence as a weapon sometimes exposed the Vikings' disguises on defense and likely dissuaded coordinator Brian Flores from getting to some of his complex pressure packages.
In the category of all-time statistical milestones, with his touchdown pass to Metcalf, Rodgers joined Tom Brady as the only two players in NFL history with 60 or more touchdown passes against multiple franchises. Rodgers had 64 touchdown passes vs. the Bears, and then after the victory over Minnesota he now has 60 vs. the Vikings. Brady had 60-plus touchdown passes vs. Miami, the Jets, and the Bills.
Rodgers' 80-yard hookup with Metcalf was his 91st completion of 50-plus yards, to move him past Drew Brees, who had 90, atop that NFL's all-time list in that specialty.
And even though a 1-play, 80-yard touchdown "drive" that took 12 seconds didn't do much for the Steelers' time of possession or their total number of offensive plays, they finished with an edge in average gain per offensive play (5.9-5.2), per rushing attempt (4.5-3.5), and per pass play (7.6-5.8). The Steelers also were assessed 47 fewer penalty yards and were plus-2 in turnover ratio.
On defense, the Steelers started the day without Joey Porter Jr. and Alex Highsmith, and things gradually got worse in that department during the following four quarters. Jalen Ramsey had to leave with a hamstring injury. Brandin Echols was dealing with cramps. Darius Slay left for a time after getting "cleated."
As Coach Mike Tomlin phrased it, "We were leaking a little bit in the secondary coming into the game without Joey Porter, but such is life."
On this day, that life was made more tolerable by a solid run defense, and a pressure package that was more relentless and productive than the Vikings'. The Steelers finished with 6 sacks and 14 hits on the quarterback to 2 sacks and 4 hits on the quarterback for Minnesota.
Enough of the numbers. The atmosphere throughout Ireland all week and then inside Croke Park on game day drew rave reviews from Rodgers, a combination of being first-year Steelers but with 273 other such game day experiences on his resume for comparison.
"I thought the atmosphere was outstanding," said Rodgers. "I come out early. In most NFL stadiums there's two hours when the stadium opens and it starts to trickle in. Somebody came back in the locker room at like (3-and-a-half hours before kickoff) and goes, 'Man, there's a ton of people out there already.' I was like, 'Yeah, we're not in the States anymore.' This is a different type of fan. I loved it. I thought the crowd was fantastic. A lot of Terrible Towels there … The music was great. The fans were cool. The field was pristine. I thought the field was really, really good. Conditions were good.
"We had a nice sunny, Irish day. I feel like a normal Irish day is overcast and drizzling. I thought it was extra, extra nice today. The whole experience was fantastic. Shout out to the country and everybody who made this happen. Win or lose, I would have said the same thing. I just felt like the reception from the people here was outstanding."
Tomlin expressed similar sentiments after the game. "Before I even get to (talking about) the game, I just can't express enough the reception that we got here," he said. "The hospitality, the accommodations, the service – it was all topnotch, man. It's an honor to represent American football here in Dublin. It was just a great trip.
"Obviously, a component of it being a great trip is doing the job, and thankfully we were able to do that. We made it a little more entertaining than maybe it should have been, but the Vikings had a lot to do with that. That group's got a lot of fight. They're well coached. It was just a fun atmosphere, good to get a win."
Any list of contributions deemed critical to securing that victory must include what Payton Wilson did on a first-and-10 from the Vikings 18-yard line with 3:25 left in the fourth quarter of a game the Steelers led by 24-14. At the snap, the secondary busted a coverage that allowed Jordan Addison to run free and alone down the right sideline.
Carson Wentz hit Addison in strike, and Wilson, in coverage on the second level of the defense, turned and began a chase that seemed fruitless when it began. But through want-to and effort – plus reaching a speed of 22.48 mph, according to NextGen Stats, the fastest by an NFL linebacker since at least 2017 – Wilson tripped up Addison at the 1-yard line. Because it took the Vikings 4 plays to score from there, Wilson's hustle cost Minnesota around 1 minute of game time it really didn't have to spare at that stage of its attempted comeback.
If the Broncos defeat the Bengals on Monday night, the Steelers will be one of 5 in the AFC at 3-1 or better. But just as it was too early to make an issue of being 1-1 or 2-1, it's no different at 3-1, even though the NFL finally will be turning the page on September football.
The Steelers get to open October with a week's respite before embarking on a stretch of their schedule that offers a 5-game stretch of Cleveland, at Cincinnati on a Thursday, back-to-back home games vs. Green Bay and Indianapolis, and a trip to the West Coast for a Sunday night date with the Chargers.
"Good to go into the bye in the position that we're in," said Tomlin about being 3-1 thanks to this quality win. "We're leaking in some areas, so it's probably at an appropriate time, but to be honest with you, I've never had a bye that didn't seem like it didn't come at the appropriate time."
This time the bye can be viewed as the calm before a storm that their play in Ireland indicated they just might be able to weather.
