The Pittsburgh Steelers’ first international game since 2013 was announced on Tuesday as they will be hosting the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland. According to Las Vegas oddsmakers, the Steelers are opening as slight underdogs.
DraftKings Sportsbook has the Steelers as 1.5-point underdogs to the Vikings with an over/under set at 42.5. Both teams will be dealing with international travel, but the Vikings are much more experienced in doing so.
The Vikings have played four regular-season international games (2013, 2017, 2022, 2024) and have a perfect 4-0 record. That game in 2013 was against the Steelers and the Vikings won, 34-27, as Greg Jennings had two long touchdown catches and Ben Roethlisberger fumbled on 3rd and goal with 19 seconds left in the game to seal the defeat.
The Vikings had an impressive regular-season record last year of 14-3, but their postseason ended in the Wild Card round just like the Steelers.
Both rosters look quite a bit different this year, beginning with starting quarterbacks for both teams. Sam Darnold is now with the Seattle Seahawks and J.J. McCarthy will most likely be starting his fourth NFL game against the Steelers. The Vikings also lost CB Stephon Gilmore, S Cam Bynum, EDGE Patrick Jones II, and OT Cam Robinson while gaining DT Jonathan Allen, C Ryan Kelly, OG Will Fries and RB Jordan Mason.
Their roster stays just as competitive, but a quarterback change is always capable of throwing a wrench in the team’s overall performance and Darnold had a very good season last year.
As for the Steelers, they may be featuring a familiar foe for the Vikings in QB Aaron Rodgers — if he signs as expected. He has a lifetime record of 17-12-1 against them. The Steelers also have a new-look backfield with rookie RB Kaleb Johnson and some significant shakeup at wide receiver with DK Metcalf replacing George Pickens.
While the Vikings do have rights to the United Kingdom as part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program, the Steelers specifically have rights to Ireland. They also have strong ties to the country with the Rooney family, including the late Dan Rooney serving as ambassador to Ireland under the Obama administration. I would imagine the Steelers’ marketing efforts in the country will result in a healthy home-field advantage for this game.
The first month of the season can be unpredictable, and an international trip further complicates things. But we should know a fair amount about both teams exiting this contest in Ireland. Expect this line to shift—potentially dramatically—as two of the NFL’s biggest wild-card teams sort themselves out over the first month of the season.
