Aaron Rodgers has accomplished nearly everything in his NFL career, but he has never played a regular-season game in Ireland.
Nobody has. At least, that will be true until Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers (2-1) and Minnesota Vikings (2-1) will make history when they square off in Dublin.
The Steelers have known about the road trip since February, when they were announced as the “home” team, and the Vikings were revealed as the opposing team in May.
Yet nobody knew for sure then that Rodgers would be part of the overseas showdown. He signed with Pittsburgh later in the offseason and has passed for 586 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions through his first three starts.
Rodgers, 41, ranks fourth all-time with 510 touchdown passes. The only players ahead of him in the record book are Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539).
“This game means a lot to all of us,” Rodgers said. “To the league. To the Rooney family (who own the Steelers). And so we want to represent the team and the Rooney legacy well.
“Being a part of the first game in Ireland is pretty cool. I have Irish heritage, so I’m very excited to get out there.”
The Steelers will go for back-to-back wins after topping the New England Patriots for a 21-14 road victory last weekend. Rodgers found Calvin Austin III for a 17-yard, go-ahead touchdown with 2:16 remaining to put Pittsburgh on top for good.
Minnesota also is going for back-to-back victories. The Vikings cruised to a 48-10 home win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week in Carson Wentz’s team debut.
Wentz will make his second straight start at quarterback in place of J.J. McCarthy, who sustained a high ankle sprain in a Sept. 14 loss against the Atlanta Falcons. In his Vikings debut last week, Wentz completed 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He recorded an impressive 129.8 passer rating.
This week, Wentz will welcome another playmaker in the passing game. Jordan Addison is set to make his season debut after completing a three-game suspension that stemmed from an arrest in 2024 in which he allegedly was driving under the influence.
Wentz and Addison worked together in practice this week to develop some on-field chemistry.
“A lot of things are still kind of firsts,” Wentz said. “So, just throw him into the mix as well. Obviously, I’ve seen his game from afar. Extremely talented, the way he gets in and out of breaks, the competitiveness.”
Addison rejoins All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson, who has 12 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown through the season’s first three games. Jordan Mason likely will get the bulk of the work at running back once again with veteran Aaron Jones on injured reserve.
The Steelers have ruled out injured linebacker Alex Highsmith (ankle), but they hope to welcome back a pair of other players. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (hamstring) and safety DeShon Elliott (knee) both took part in limited drills on Wednesday after each missed the past two games.
“(They) certainly have a chance,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ll work with those guys this week and let the amount of their participation and the quality of their participation be our guide. …
“Health and football readiness and conditioning at times can be different things, so we’ll watch those guys close, and (we) can make appropriate decisions at the latter part of the week.”
–Field Level Media
