Steelers' trip to Ireland honors the Rooney legacy while focusing on the Vikings

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Mike Tomlin isn't using the Pittsburgh Steelers' trip to Ireland as a reason to offer up a history lesson about what the team and the Rooney family mean to Ireland.

There's no need.

Yes, the team's ties to the Emerald Isle run deep. Yet Tomlin knew Hall of Famer and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney — still known almost universally as Mr. Rooney nearing a decade after his death — well enough to know how Rooney would feel if the Steelers spent the run-up to Sunday's game against Minnesota at Croke Park in Dublin reveling in the past and not the task at hand.

“This is a business trip,” Tomlin said before Pittsburgh left for the NFL's first regular-season game in Dublin.

Besides, the club hardly needs an overseas trip to Rooney's homeland as an opportunity to talk about what the family in general and Dan Rooney in particular has meant not just to Pittsburgh and Ireland, but the NFL, too.

“The education is continual,” Tomlin added.

And so is the work on the field by the Steelers (2-1), who face an early litmus test against the Vikings (2-1).

Pittsburgh has been more opportunistic than awe-inspiring through three weeks. The defense is allowing yards in huge chunks. Aaron Rodgers and the offense have been remarkably efficient in the red zone but remarkably average just about anywhere else.

They've been outgained in all three games, relying on turnovers — a momentum-swinging fumbled kickoff return in the opener against the New York Jets and a staggering five takeaways last week in New England — to get by.

While that recipe was good enough to beat two teams that don't figure to be in the playoff mix come December, Minnesota and its defense led by coordinator and former Steelers assistant Brian Flores pose a considerable step up. And Tomlin and the rest of the Steelers know it.

Sure, they'd have loved a chance to spend more time in Dublin — Rodgers said he would have preferred to leave for Ireland on Monday rather than late Thursday — but the reality is the Steelers don't need to lean into the local culture but rather the chance to build some early season momentum while honoring the family name.

“This game means a lot to all of us, to the league, to the Rooney family, so we want to represent the team and the Rooney legacy well,” Rodgers said.

Minnesota will have Carson Wentz at quarterback for a second straight start while J.J. McCarthy recovers from a sprained ankle.

Wentz signed with the Vikings in August to provide some experienced depth behind a first-year starter and was solid during a blowout victory over Cincinnati last week.

There was speculation last spring that Rodgers was interested in joining longtime friend and Minnesota coach Kevin O'Connell.

“We’ve been friends forever, and we keep in touch," Rodgers said. “He’s one of the guys I keep in touch with. Things never progressed farther than catch-up conversations.”

The Vikings instead gave their unequivocal support to McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft who spent his entire rookie year rehabilitating from knee surgery.

The addition of Wentz — now firmly in the well-traveled backup portion of his career — late in training camp gave Minnesota an experienced voice without the potentially unwieldy dynamics of having a future Hall of Famer looking over the shoulder of a potential future franchise quarterback, as it might have been if Rodgers and the Vikings ever got serious.

While Wentz was far from flawless against the Bengals, his play featured precisely the type of mechanics, poise and process that O'Connell and the coaching staff want their quarterback to play with.

“He did a really nice job of playing point guard, throwing completions, allowing guys to win, and then when number one wasn’t there, he progressed and found open players,” O'Connell said, adding: “I think there’s value in J.J. seeing that.”

The Vikings welcomed left tackle Christian Darrisaw back to the lineup last week, not quite 11 months after he tore his ACL and MCL and needed surgery that ended his 2024 season.

“Just a juice that quite honestly elevated our entire team,” O'Connell said after the blowout of the Bengals. “I told him out on the field, ‘If there’s ever a question of what a franchise left tackle means to an organization, I think we felt it today. I think we felt it throughout the week.’”

Darrisaw, a 2021 first-round draft pick, was proud to beat his original return timetable of 12 months.

“It’s a testament to the hard work,” he said. “Grateful to everybody in this organization. It was a long time coming.”

The Vikings forced five turnovers by the Bengals last week, including three forced fumbles, two by cornerback Isaiah Rodgers. That's hardly a fluke. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores and special teams coordinator Matt Daniels have made takeaways a major emphasis in practice and meetings, particularly with the best techniques for punching the ball out.

The Steelers and Vikings tied for the NFL lead with 33 takeaways last season, and they're second and third in the league this year behind Jacksonville.

“If you can continue to work it, work it, work it and build that subconscious mindset, then it all becomes natural in the football game,” Daniels said.

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AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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