The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their fourth game of the 2025 season in Dublin, Ireland as part of the NFL’s International Series. It’s the first international game played in Dublin, and the Steelers’ opponent will be the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings come in with a 2-1 record tied for the lead in the NFL North. Below are five key things I believe the Steelers will need to beat the Vikings and come away with their third win of the season.
Lag Less Than the Other Lads – If you’ve ever flown across the United States, you understand jet lag. The body’s internal clock is disrupted by the change in time. Heading west from the eastern U.S. isn’t as detrimental, as you are gaining hours. When flying west to east, as it will be travelling to Ireland, you really have to adjust, especially when it comes to sleep.
In 2013, the Steelers struggled after travelling on a Thursday to play in London. It’s been well documented by some, including Cam Heyward, that players and coaches were falling asleep in meetings after traveling.
Both teams will have to deal with the travel and adjust accordingly, but Minnesota historically has been more malleable. They are a perfect 4-0 on games in Europe. Three of the five games in the 2025 series were one-score games. If that is the case in this contest, Pittsburgh should feel right at home.
A-A-ron Need to have his A-A-game – Through the first three games, we have seen a mixed bag of play from Aaron Rodgers. After a four-touchdown game to start the season, his passing yards have gone down significantly in each game. The offensive line has had a lot to do with that, forcing Rodgers to get the ball out quickly.
Against Minnesota, he will be squaring off against defensive coordinator Brian Flores. He’s known as an aggressive and creative coordinator mixing up his coverages well. What the quarterback sees pre-snap is not often the same as what the defense will be playing after the snap. His defenses have ranked in the top half of the league, and he preaches getting turnovers with two interceptions and seven forced fumbles so far.
The good news is that Rodgers has been playing for 21 years and in 273 games. Through all those snaps, he has seen just about everything a defensive coordinator can throw at him. It will be a chess match between Rodgers and Flores, and the Steelers quarterback’s ability to adjudicate each situation will be important in getting the win.
Bring Pressure From Wentz He Came – The Vikings are without young quarterback J.J. McCarthy and will start veteran Carson Wentz for the second time in as many weeks. The Vikings are tied for second in the league, allowing 12 sacks. They’ve also thrown three interceptions. And to add injury to insult, they will be without their starting left guard, Donovan Jackson, who had surgery on his wrist. He will be replaced by Blake Brandel, who was a starter last season.
The Steelers’ defense woke up last week and sacked Drake Maye five times. The addition of Derrick Harmon making his NFL debut and Nick Herbig being highly disruptive, coupled with the veterans T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward led to them creating havoc in the pocket.
If the Steelers’ defense can continue what they started last week, pressuring the quarterback and getting the sack, it will go a long way toward securing victory.
Stop Mason to Force Carson – The Vikings will be without running back Aaron Jones this week. That puts Jordan Mason as the primary ball carrier, and that can be a problem for Pittsburgh.
The Steelers’ run defense has shown improvement week after week, but it’s still far from where they want to be. And they can’t rely on forcing five turnovers like they did last week. They must stop Mason, and that will not be easy.
He was a relatively unknown back with just seven starts in his career while mostly used as a backup to Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco. However, he has been remarkably effective. His yards per carry in his four years are 6.0, 5.2, 5.2 and currently 5.4 this season. He is a physical runner with a “run angry” mentality.
Minnesota has about 50/50 split of run to pass. Carson Wentz has only been with the team for a month, having signed up in late August. Theoretically, he hasn’t had a lot of reps with Justin Jefferson and even less with Jordan Addison, who is off suspension and back with the team this week.
It’s hard to stop all three of those skill players, but they have to start somewhere. Slow Mason and make Wentz beat you through the air.
Tackles Pass a Test – Rodgers was not sacked last week. One play that was going to be a sack was nullified by a penalty. Part of the reason for no sack was Rodgers getting the ball out quickly again. He had the third fastest time at 2.45 seconds. Only Wentz and Baker Mayfield got rid of the ball quicker in week three.
The Vikings have particularly good bookend pass rushers in Jonathan Greenard and Dallas Turner, replacing the injured Andrew Van Ginkel. Broderick Jones will have to face off with Turner, a first-round pick last season. He had three sacks last year and also got one in Week 2 this season. On the other side, Greenard will battle with Troy Fautanu. The past two seasons, the left outside linebacker has at least 12 sacks in each season and has one this year.
The Steelers have allowed seven sacks this season. Minnesota is tied for sixth in the league with nine sacks, with four coming during the beatdown of the Bengals.
Both Steelers tackles have had troubles (as well as the rest of the offensive line) this season. Rodgers has been in a crowded pocket for most of the season, and the passing statistics have deteriorated each week. Give him some time, and maybe we won’t see double digit passes behind the line of scrimmage again this week.
