In the first-ever NFL regular season game played in Ireland, the Minnesota Vikings faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in an international game some 12 years in the making. The Vikings had an unblemished record of 4-0 in international games, but all of them were played in the capital of Great Britain in London, England. Their first ever game played outside the United States came against the Steelers at Wembley Stadium in on Sept, 29 2013, a game which the Vikings hung on to win 34-27. Stars such as Ben Roehtlisberger, Antonio Brown, Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen and Brett Keisel played in the game, which served as the first international regular season game for both franchises that played against each other in Super Bowl IX. But now, some twelve years later, the Steelers were returning to the heritage land of their owners, the Rooneys, in being the “home team” in the first NFL regular season game in Ireland. At Croke Park in Dublin, the Steelers welcomed in the Vikings for a big Week 4 game between 2-1 teams who were both lucky to have that record entering the game. Safe to say the faces on both sides were much different than in 2013, as the only remaining Steeler from that game at Wembley was defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and the only Viking left standing on the roster was star safety Harrison Smith. This was also the first of back-to-back international games for the Vikings, who are attempting something never done by an NFL team in playing back-to-back games in two different countries away from the United States of America. With another game scheduled in London against the Cleveland Browns next week, the Vikings arrived on Friday morning in Dublin for a ten-day stay in the two big islands north of mainland Europe. The Pittsburgh travel party arrived around the same time in the Irish capital, so they only had a short time to prepare and play at Croke Park.

The Vikings had a couple of injury concerns entering the game, as Andrew Van Ginkel was questionable with a neck injury and J.J McCarthy continued to be held out of practice with his high ankle sprain. The Vikings had every reason to keep McCarthy benched, as Carson Wentz had an amazing start in Week 3 against the Cincinnati Bengals in leading six drives that resulted in scores(four touchdowns). Being aided by turnovers and a pair of defensive TDs by Isaiah Rodgers, the Vikings had a blowout win at home over the Bengals to get themselves back on the winning track. But they also lost left guard Donovan Jackson to a wrist injury that required immediate surgery. Having a patchwork offensive line with Ryan Kelly going through concussion protocol, Minnesota needed as much healthy bodies as they could muster against the Steelers. Unfortunately, Van Ginkel was ruled out for the game, robbing the Vikings of one of their best past rushers to go against a Pittsburgh offensive line tasked with protecting Aaron Rodgers, who was making his fourth start in a Steelers uniform. Rodgers had a good first game playing for the Black and Gold, but he had some more offensive struggles over his next two games. The defense was also a sore point for Pittsburgh, but in Week 3 they managed to force five turnovers against the New England Patriots and that made a big difference in a 7-point win. With a bunch of offensive weapons such as D.K Metcalf, Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith and others, Rodgers has a better team around him. Not to mention a star-studded defense spearheaded by T.J Watt, Cam Heyward, Darius Slay and Jalen Ramsey. So, this wasn’t going to be an easy game for either side, but it was going to be a fun, jolly old time for the Terrible Towel wavers in Dublin and the bold fans in purple as well. Let’s see how things played out in this dramatic game.

The Steelers started the game with possession and they started from their 35-yard line. On the very first play, Aaron Rodgers dropped back to pass but was sacked immediately by Jalen Redmond for a loss of eight yards. That sack resumed a rivalry between a legendary QB and one of his most common opponents as the Vikings defeated Rodgers the year before in a Week 5 international game in London when Rodgers was on the New York Jets. That game was sloppy and low-scoring, with Rodgers nearly leading a comeback that ended with a game-ending interception by Stephon Gilmore to stop what could have been a game-winning drive for the Jets’ offense. It seemed that the Vikings had the last laugh, but with Rodgers choosing to come back for one more season and signing with Pittsburgh, one final matchup was on tap and it happened to occur in a country just west of England. Anyhow, a couple of short passes by Rodgers ended the drive for the Steelers as Corliss Waitman booted the ball to the Vikings’ side of the field. The Minnesota offense started from their 26-yard line as Carson Wentz got settled in and threw some passes to Justin Jefferson, who took advantage of all the targets he was getting in this one. Using Jordan Mason as well for efficient runs and pass plays, the Vikings got into Pittsburgh territory when disaster nearly struck as Mason would lose control of the ball on a tackle by safety Chuck Clark and Jalen Ramsey recovered it, running with it all the way back to the end zone for a touchdown. But it was negated due to a rule stating that when the ball is loose and an offensive player has his hand on the ball while having one of his body parts out of bounds, the play is automatically over. Referee Brad Allen announced a decision that reflected this rule and replay angles showed that after coming down onto the field following the fumble, Mason touched the ball right as Ramsey was about to pick it up and his feet were out of bounds. So, a lucky break there for the Vikings, who had some luck of the Irish help them out. The ball went to the Steelers’ 38-yard line, where Mason had picked up a first down before losing the ball and the next play was a clutch Wentz pass to Jefferson for 22 yards that got the Vikings into the red zone. The offense almost got a first down inside the 10-yard line, but Will Fries was called for being an ineligible receiver downfield and that play was negated. The Vikings could not overcome that penalty as Wentz got sacked by Patrick Queen on third down. The field goal unit came onto the field and Will Reichard made a 41-yard field goal to get the first points of this historic game in Dublin.

The Steelers offense had a better second drive as Rodgers threw some quick passes that picked up first downs and Kenneth Gainwell(starting at running back in this game due to Jaylen Warren being inactive) finished the drive with a one-yard punch-in touchdown. Pittsburgh gained the lead and was up by four on the Vikings, who closed out the first quarter by having Wentz complete a first-down pass to Jordan Addison, who had returned from his league-mandated three-game suspension for a DUI violation. Addison had a big 22-yard catch that got the team past midfield, but the drive stalled in the second quarter following another sack on Wentz. After the punt by Ryan Wright, Pittsburgh’s offense came back onto the field and Rodgers threw a slant pass to DK Metcalf, who in turn ran fast with the ball past a load of Vikings defenders. Metcalf sprinted himself all the way into the end zone for a long 80-yard TD reception. Rodgers was pumped up by that as he had the longest-distance play of his season so far. The score was 14-3 Steelers after a PAT made by Chris Boswell and the Vikings desperately needed a response. Wentz led a drive that could have resulted in points, with some clutch passes and a good fourth and short run by Mason getting the team into opposing territory again. But on third down, Wentz threw a ball towards Addison that was intercepted by safety Deshaun Elliott, who went backwards on the pick. An unfortunate mistake made there by Wentz, who threw his first interception of the season.

The Pittsburgh offense got downfield again and were the beneficiaries of an unnecessary roughness foul called on Byron Murphy Jr, who pushed down wide receiver Ben Skowronek(who appeared to flop down onto the field) aggressively. Before the two-minute warning, Rodgers ran with his legs for a first down and had the ball punched out by Jonathan Greenard after he had gained enough yardage. The ball was loose, but recovered by offensive tackle Broderick Jones, who went forward six extra yards. Another tough break by the Vikings defense, which needed to come up with a stop to prevent this score from getting uglier. Thankfully, Redmond sacked Rodgers again and a third down pass to Gainwell was short of the line to gain. Kevin O’Connell called a couple of timeouts to stop the clock and on fourth down, the Steelers field goal unit came onto the field. This would be a 30-yard kick by Boswell, who geared up to kick as the ball was snapped and held for him. But the kick was blocked by Isaiah Rodgers, who made a big play in coming over from the outside edge and deflecting the ball, which sidewinded into the hands of Ivan Pace Jr, who was unable to grasp the ball enough to return it. The Vikings had prevented Pittsburgh from scoring though and now had a chance to capitalize off this clutch move by the defense.

The drive started with a Wentz pass to Zavier Scott that went for a gain of ten yards, but 15 yards were tacked on due to a roughing the passer foul on Derrick Harmon. Wentz then completed a couple of big passes to Jefferson(and one to Scott) that got the team into the red zone for another scoring opportunity. A touchdown was paramount to score here, but time was winding down and Wentz threw a pass to Scott that lost yardage in bounds and forced O’Connell to call the final timeout of the half. The next two plays resulted in incomplete passes towards the end zone for Wentz, who was facing a first half struggle storyline similar to McCarthy in the first game of the season. Reichard kicked a 33-yard field goal to continue his trend of making kicks before halftime and the Vikings were down 14-6 now. That was the score at the end of the first half of this grinder of a game at Croke Park. Aaron Rodgers was making good completions and also being aided by a defense that was pressuring Wentz, who was throwing plenty of balls to Jefferson(with a statline of eight receptions for 97 yards in the half) and spreading it out to other targets like Addison, Adam Thielen and Mason. With the Vikings set to receive possession to start the second half, a touchdown drive needed to happen in order to set the tone early and also to score actually fruitful points in the third quarter.

Unfortunately the team was down a couple of big offensive linemen as Ryan Kelly entered the concussion protocol(again) and Brian O’Neill suffered a knee injury in the first half. That meant the offensive line had to bring in two substitutions, with Justin Skule taking the reins at right tackle and Michael Jurgens getting another chance at center. The offense needed to step up big time in order to compete in the second half and reward the defense for their hard work of holding the Steelers to 14 points. The Vikings received the second half kickoff and they had a short drive that ended in another sack on Wentz to end the drive. The Brian Flores defense did its part and forced the Rodgers offense into a three and out. After an illegal block penalty backed up the Vikings on the punt, the offense had another promising drive build itself up with a third down completion to Thielen and a couple of other chain-moving plays that got the team back into Pittsburgh territory. But then the Steelers defense brought the blitz and Wentz got sacked twice in a row, once by Deshaun Elliott, who forced the ball out on a fumble recovered by Josh Oliver, and then by T.J Watt, who decided to take matters into his own hands(literally) by picking off Wentz on the next play. Watt ran 13 yards with the ball and another fatal turnover had occurred. Two interceptions thrown by Wentz on a day where he was really feeling the pressure of working behind a weakened offensive line without three of its starters.

This time off a turnover, the Pittsburgh offense capitalized with runs by Gainwell grinding the Vikings’ defense down and the drive concluding with a rushing touchdown by Gainwell, who had a pair of TDs on Irish turf. Now down by 15, the Vikings offense needed to generate a touchdown and hang onto the ball. A great dynamic kickoff return by Myles Price was negated due to a holding penalty on Tavierre Thomas, who committed a tough penalty on special teams for the second straight week. That foul set up another empty drive for the offense as another three-and-out happened. The Steelers would get good field position on the ensuing punt and heading into the fourth quarter had the ball back in field goal range. Rodgers completed a few passes and had a couple of handoffs to Kaleb Johnson that got the ball back into the red zone. This time, the Vikings defense held the line as Rodgers threw an incomplete pass on third down. The field goal unit came onto the field for Pittsburgh and this time Boswell made a 33-yard field goal to increase the lead of the “home team” to three possessions. Up 24-6, the Steelers definitely had a home-field feel with a load of Terrible Towels and Black and Gold fans in the stands. There were plenty of Vikings fans as well, and both end zones were colored with each team’s colors, taking on the appearance of a Super Bowl field. The Acrisure Stadium public-address announcer for Pittsburgh home games was there in Dublin and there was also the playing of “Renegade” by Styx, a song that serves as the Steelers fourth-quarter rally song. The deck was staked against the Vikings, who needed a touchdown in the worst possible way.

The offense had another solid drive with short chunk plays picking up first downs. A Wentz pass to Jefferson for 18 yards got the team yet again onto the other side of the field for the fifth time in the game and they had yet to crack the end zone at this point. But Wentz threw a couple of completions to T.J Hockenson that got the team back into the red zone, where Wentz threw a pass to the back of the end zone that was caught by Zavier Scott, who kept both his feet in bounds for a touchdown reception. A big score there served for the first one of Scott’s professional career, but that wasn’t all. O’Connell decided to have the offense attempt a two-point conversion, which was successful as Wentz threw a clutch pass to the left caught by Jalen Nailor. The Vikings were now down by just ten points and still had a chance to come back in this game. They needed to get a swift stop against the Steelers offense in order to get the ball back to lessen the deficit to one possession. The Pittsburgh offense was intent on letting time run off the clock and also to potentially get a game-sealing score of a touchdown. The ensuing drive showed one of those things happening as time was milked off with the Steelers picking up first downs, including on a “tush push” that Rodgers just stood behind and did not participate in. Connor Heyward(Cameron’s younger brother) took the snap and went into the trenches to pick up two yards and the first down was successful(along with a skirmish that had another unnecessary roughness called on a Vikings defender, this time on Dallas Turner). A run by Gainwell got the Steelers inside the ten-yard line and they were dead set on scoring a touchdown. But a Gainwell run for a loss of two had O’Connell stop the clock with a timeout and then Rodgers threw an incomplete pass that stopped the clock as well. On 3rd & goal, Rodgers completed a pass to Gainwell, who was tackled by Harrison Smith at the three-yard line. On 4th & goal, it appeared that Pittsburgh would settle for a chip-shot field goal to increase their lead to 13, thus forcing the Vikings to score two touchdowns. But Rodgers overruled that decision and convinced head coach Mike Tomlin to leave the offense on the field to have a touchdown scored that would seal off the game. The offense for the Steelers stayed on and Rodgers handed off the ball to Gainwell, who was stopped short of the goal line by a combination of Vikings defenders. So, a big stop was made by the defense and a gamble by Rodgers and his offensive coordinator Arthur Smith did not pay off. The door was still open for the Vikings to make a comeback in this crazy game in Dublin.

Starting from their one-yard line and needing to get at least a field goal to make it a one-score game, the Minnesota offense went no huddle to start out and a completion by Wentz to Jefferson for 11 yards picked up a first down. The clock was stopped inside five minutes due to an injury to Steelers cornerback Brandin Echols. On the next play, Wentz threw a deep pass that was caught by Jordan Addison, who was streaking on the side with the ball. Addison was running fast and it looked like he was going to go all the way for the touchdown. But he was barely tripped up by Pittsburgh linebacker Payton Wilson, who barely caught up to stop Addison from scoring. Addison fell at the one-yard line in-bounds, so the clock kept rolling on this 81-yard play that was barely a yard short of a touchdown. The offense and opposing defense hurried up for the next play, which was a run by Mason that lost a yard in bounds. The Vikings only had one timeout remaining, so they needed to score fast and preferably before the two-minute warning. With two and a half minutes remaining in regulation, time was short and the next play needed to occur. On 2nd & goal, Wentz threw a pass that was batted incomplete towards Nailor. On 3rd & goal, Wentz tried to get the ball to Nailor again but it was also incomplete. On 4th & goal from the 2-yard line, O’Connell kept the offense on for a last chance crack at a touchdown. This time, Wentz found Nailor in the end zone for a big touchdown. But the Vikings should have scored a minute earlier if not for Addison being tackled a little short of the end zone. That proved to be crucial, as the Vikings now needed to decide what to do on the kickoff with a little over two minutes left.

Due to the dynamic kickoff, it is harder to have a touchback that automatically has the clock not have any time run off of it. The returner’s intent would be to return the ball and milk as much time on the return as possible. With 8 seconds remaining until the two-minute warning, the Vikings decided to declare an onside kick that they had no intent of recovering to simply preserve time, assuming that the Steelers player who got the ball would immediately go down. Thus, the onside kick occurred with Reichard’s kick bouncing the ball towards the Steelers returners and Roman Wilson caught the ball and then immediately went down. Only one second came off the clock and now the Vikings had two means of stopping the clock. The defense could not afford to give up a first down to the Rodgers-led offense or it was essentially game over. The first play that occurred on this drive was a run by Gainwell for four yards, as he was tackled by Eric Wilson and the clock rolled down to the two-minute warning. On second down, Rodgers handed the ball off to Gainwell, who evaded a potential tackle behind the line of scrimmage by Wilson and ran to the outside to try and pick up the first down. But Gainwell had to stay in bounds so that the final timeout by the Vikings could be used and Ivan Pace got him down a yard short of the line to gain. O’Connell called the final timeout for Minnesota and a big third and short play was on tap. If the Steelers picked up the first down here, the game would be over. Following Tomlin taking his team’s final timeout, Gainwell went up the middle on third down, but he would be stonewalled by Jonathan Allen and Dallas Turner. The ball was marked short of the first down marker, forcing the Pittsburgh offense to run the clock down and staying on the field to try and draw the Vikings offsides. But those tactics did not work and thus the Steelers took a five-yard delay of game penalty, which backed them up as the punt unit came onto the field. Corliss Waitman booted the ball and it landed in the end zone for a touchback. With a little over one minute left, Carson Wentz had a chance to lead a game-tying or game-winning drive here for the Vikings at Croke Park.

On the first play of the drive, disaster nearly ensued as Wentz threw the ball to the left side in order to find Addison for a first-down gain that would go out of bounds. But the ball appeared to be intercepted by cornerback James Pierre, who went out of bounds with possession of the ball. It was ruled an interception at first, but after video review, it was deemed that Pierre did not fully possess the ball with both feet down in bounds as the ball was still up in the air in between his hands and by the time he got control he was only able to have one of his feet down in bounds. Thus, the ruling on the field was an incomplete pass and the Vikings were still alive. That was probably the third or fourth lucky thing to occur with the Vikings in this game, along with Mason’s ball touch with his foot out of bounds that negated Ramsey’s touchdown run back, the blocked field goal by Isaiah Rodgers and the failed fourth and goal attempt by the Steelers offense. So, this game was not over yet.

On the next play, Wentz aimed the ball towards Scott, who tried to make the catch but it went off his hands for an incomplete pass. However, there was a flag on the field for defensive holding on Patrick Queen that resulted in an automatic first down. The next play also had a penalty on it, as T.J Watt jumped offsides right before the ball was snapped and that gave the team five extra yards. The redo of first down had Wentz complete a pass to Scott this time and Scott got out of bounds for a nine-yard gain for another chain-moving play. Only being 20 or so yards away from comfortable field goal range for Reichard and 43 seconds left on the clock, the Vikings were playing with house money. However, Wentz would be pressured on the next play and had to throw the ball while getting pulled down by the jersey from Nic Herbig, who should have been called for a potential horsecollar tackle foul. That did not happen, instead Brad Allen announced that Wentz had committed intentional grounding(which is a subjective term to say the least) and it was a loss of downs along with a ten-second runoff due to the clock running. So, now with 28 seconds and the ball back inside their 25-yard line, the Vikings needed a big play to happen. Wentz threw the ball to Hockenson for a substantial gain that got the team halfway to the first down marker. However, T.J was tackled down in bounds and the team had to hurry to spike the ball on third down, which Wentz did with 14 seconds left on the clock. Now, on fourth down and long, a first down play that gained yards and got out of bounds with time left on the clock for the field goal unit to come onto the field(or for another play to be ran by the offense at the very least) needed to happen. But unfortunately the offense was backed up again due to a delay of game penalty. Wentz claimed in the postgame news conference that he was unable to see the play clock at Croke Park due to its odd setup, but he placed the blame on himself. So, on fourth down and super long, Wentz threw a pass up the middle(not a good choice) and it headed towards Addison, but the ball was tipped by Elliott and landed incomplete.

The game was done, the Vikings had their last chance drive come a little bit short. After Rodgers knelt down with 8 seconds left, the game had been finished and the winners of this first ever NFL regular season game in Ireland were the Pittsburgh Steelers, who also got their first ever international win in a regular season game in franchise history. The Vikings international game record is no longer perfect, as they had too many mistakes(empty red zone trips along with turnovers and penalties) to overcome an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Wentz did his best to try and lead this team back, but he was unable to overcome a fourth quarter deficit like J.J McCarthy did in his first-ever NFL game earlier this month. The defense did everything they could to keep the team in it, they just could not get a turnover off of the Aaron Rodgers-led offense. Rodgers only threw the ball 22 times, with 18 completions and 200 yards(a lot of them on his only TD pass of the day to DK Metcalf) to show for it. Only being sacked twice, Rodgers might have had the last laugh in his rivalry with the Vikings as he is unlikely to continue playing beyond this season. With 18 career wins over the Vikings(a lot of them in between the seasons of 2010-2015), Rodgers has also put up impressive career stats against Minnesota. He will have a chance to play against his old team in the Green Bay Packers in Week 8 and also on the road against the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions to complete his NFC North revenge tour. Rodgers was aided by his team’s run game, with Kenneth Gainwell having 99 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns.

The Steelers defense ate up Carson Wentz on a lot of drives in this game, with six sacks on Wentz. But in spite of that, Wentz still threw for 350 yards and had two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter that offset his two interceptions thrown earlier. Completing 30 of his 46 passes in the game, Wentz gave Justin Jefferson his heaviest dosage of targets so far this season, with eleven of them and all but one of them were caught. Jefferson was unable to do the Griddy dance in Dublin, but he still had 10 catches for 126 yards receiving. Jordan Addison had a solid season debut with four catches for 114 yards(most of them on that YAC reception that should have gone one extra yard for an end zone call). Zavier Scott and Jalen Nailor were the beneficiaries of a couple of Wentz touchdown passes(and a two-point conversion catch by Nailor). The Vikings couldn’t sack Rodgers enough, but they did try to put as much pressure on him as possible. But they had to be on their heels defending the run in this game. Obviously, this game was lost for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that this team is simply not built currently to come back from behind when facing massive deficits. The offense cannot start out flat as they have in three of the four games played by this team so far. The defense can’t always be there to bail the offense out and being too reliant on turnovers can be a dangerous thing.

Also injuries continue to plague this team, especially on the offensive line. Ryan Kelly should definitely consider retirement or wearing a guardian cap, as the Vikings only have him signed for two years. Brian O’Neill cannot afford to be gone long, as next week the Vikings must face off against another defense led by a dangerous pass rusher. The offensive line did well in the fourth quarter, but that needs to be translated to the whole game in order for success to happen. Blake Brandel will continue to fill in for Donovan Jackson, who should return after the bye week. Michael Jurgens will most certainly start at center next week unless Kelly clears protocol and the team is willing to put him back out there for a second straight international game. Justin Skule could have to start at right tackle after filling in for Christian Darrisaw at left tackle for the first couple of weeks, but O’Neill’s status isn’t fully known yet. Next week will be the Vikings’ second consecutive international game as they travel across the Irish Sea to play the Cleveland Browns, who lost on Sunday against the Detroit Lions. At 1-3, Cleveland has Joe Flacco currently as their QB and a couple of good offensive pieces such as rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, wideout Jerry Jeudy and tight end David Njoku could give the defense some fits. But this game will more than likely be won on defense and the Browns have a decent one with Myles Garrett leading the charge. We shall see what is in store as the Minnesota Vikings look to settle for a split on their international tour of games and they will thankfully have plenty of more fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to root them on in spite of it being a “home game” for the Browns. That game is a must-win right before a Week 6 bye and on a week where the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have byes. The Vikings at least still have a perfect record in England to defend and they shall certainly attempt to do that right around Tea Time next Sunday in London.