Justin Jefferson put in one of his best performances of this young 2025 season, hauling in 10 of 11 targets for 126 yards, but there would be no special Irish edition of the “O’Griddy” for the full house at Dublin’s Croke Park.

The Minnesota Vikings wideout had a chance of a score in the third quarter but slipped on the turf around the 10-yard line, slamming his fists on the ground in frustration. In the cold light of the morning after, however, the moment encapsulated a game that always seemed destined to go the way of the men from the Steel City.

Jefferson wasn’t going to use the Dublin grass as an excuse, and reflected in the postgame press conference that the Vikings ultimately hurt themselves throughout.

“It was a little slippery out there, but it’s not something that we would put blame on,” he confirmed. “We just hurt ourselves, shooting ourselves in the foot, giving them more opportunities to get points and gain that momentum. But, we have a team that fights and we don’t hang our heads until 0:00 is on that clock.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell agreed with his star player, noting that, in his opinion, “the guys battled until the very end of the football game, but we put ourselves in way too much of a hole, clearly losing the turnover battle and [allowing] penalties to be a critical factor.”

T.J. Watt, who snagged a key interception of Carson Wentz in the second half, was definitive about the difference the Dublin crowd made to the eventual outcome of the game.

“Steeler Nation came out today and really showed out,” he enthused. “The fans were absolutely incredible today. I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not. It was huge for us, and they definitely gave us an edge today.”

Watt’s defensive colleague Cam Heyward echoed this sentiment, having caught glimpses of the crowd between snaps.

“When they were playing Zombie, watching everybody just into it, that was really fun,” the veteran smiled. “You could just feel the energy behind everybody here. I don’t think it mattered if you were a Steeler fan or a Viking fan, that crowd was electric today.”

There was a palpable level of emotion from the Steelers players postgame, notably about the importance of winning this one for the Rooney family and winning it in their motherland. Watt admitted, “Mike [Tomlin] gave us a speech before last night’s dinner on the importance of the Rooney family here in Ireland, Mr. Rooney and his ambassadorship here, and how important this game [was] to their family. We take a lot of pride in that.”

Similarly, the brilliantly intense Tomlin took time specifically to open the press conference with a dedication to the family and to Ireland.

“It’s an honour to represent American football here in Dublin,” he insisted. “We made it a little more entertaining than maybe it should have been, but the Vikings had a lot to do with that. We talked a lot about the late great ambassador Rooney last night. I know he’s smiling at us today. It’s just an honour to fulfill his vision, to bring NFL football to Dublin. I’ve been thinking about him a lot on a personal level.”

Meanwhile, Aaron Rodgers, who described this point in his career as now ‘teeing off on the 18th’, seemed relatively relaxed speaking to the media afterwards, even taking time to enquire how the Ryder Cup was shaking out. Again, he was beaming about the Irish experience, having previously tasted the International Series in London.

“I appreciate the history,” he explained. “There were a lot of us that wanted to win it a little bit more for the [Rooney] family, knowing how much affection they have for this area.”

The Dublin excursion was overshadowed in part before the game with the news that Steelers back-up QB Skylar Thompson had been robbed in the city over the weekend. However, despite this unfortunate incident, based on the energy that was evident on gameday, it feels like a no-brainer for the NFL to start holding annual regular season games in Ireland. When one reporter asked Rodgers, “Do you think, with everything Dublin has done, they deserve an NFL game in the future?”, the veteran QB simply replied, with a smile, “100 percent!”.

Putting all of the Irish razzmatazz aside, the Steelers are now sitting alone at 3-1 atop of the AFC North going into their bye week. You wouldn’t bet against them finding themselves in the playoffs once again, especially if Rodgers can play clean and the defense continues to play just plain nasty. Tomlin’s closing words were prophetic and should cause their division rivals to shudder: “We’re prepared to die with our boots on, pursue victory and not live in our fears.”