DUBLIN — The night before playing the first regular-season NFL game in Dublin, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin delivered an emotional speech to his team about the significance of the late Dan M. Rooney, a former U.S. ambassador to Ireland and influential Steelers chairman.
Less than 24 hours later, Tomlin and the Steelers held on for an emotional roller-coaster 24-21 win against the Vikings in the Rooney family’s ancestral country in front of thousands of Terrible Towel-toting fans.
“We definitely had a chip on our shoulder,” edge rusher T.J. Watt said. “Mike T. last night gave a speech on the importance of the Rooney family here in Ireland and Mr. Rooney, his ambassadorship here and how important this game means to their family.
“We take a lot of pride in that, and to be able to go out there and play Steeler football was huge.”
The Steelers did just that with a mostly dominant defensive performance that included six sacks, two interceptions, 14 quarterback hits and 10 tackles for loss. They hung on through a late surge by the Vikings that brought the Carson Wentz-led team within three points, using a deflected pass by safety DeShon Elliott to seal the win with seconds remaining.
“I know he’s smiling at us today,” Tomlin said of the former ambassador. “It’s just an honor to fulfill his vision, to bring NFL football to Dublin.”
Designated as a Steelers home game, the crowd of nearly 75,000 was mostly Steelers fans, and they were raucous from the minute the gates opened three hours before kickoff.
“I thought the atmosphere was outstanding,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “I come out early. In most NFL stadiums there’s two hours when the stadium opens, and it starts to trickle in. Somebody came back in the locker room at like 11:00 and goes, man, there’s a ton of people out there already. I was like, yeah, we’re not in the states anymore. This is a different type of fan.
“… A lot of Terrible Towels there, but I felt like there was probably some good old Irish getting in the mix too waving those towels around a little bit. The music was great. The fans were cool. The field was pristine.”
The entire game-day experience was an embodiment of Pittsburgh traditions and the Rooney family’s Irish heritage. During warmups, the Clada House Band, an Irish group, performed live sets between a DJ mixing top-40 hits and songs from Irish artists. The game also featured performances of both the U.S. and Irish national anthems.
“This has always been a dream of his,” tight end Connor Heyward said of Rooney. “Even on the way here to the stadium, you could get chills. I got chills just seeing all the Steelers fans and having this opportunity and then also with the national anthem, like hearing the U.S. national anthem and then hearing the Ireland national anthem. Two opposites, one’s more lit, but it was really cool.”
Just as they do at Acrisure Stadium, the Steelers also played the “Pittsburgh Polka” before kickoff. Later on, the stadium ushered in the fourth quarter with a crowd-led singalong to “Zombie” by the Cranberries, an Irish rock band formed in Limerick.
After the Steelers kicked a field goal to take an 18-point lead later in the final quarter, the videoboards went dark and Styx’s “Renegade,” the Steelers’ defensive anthem, began to play.
Sunday’s win capped a whirlwind three-day trip to the island for the Steelers, who arrived on Friday and promptly took an hourlong bus ride to Carton House for their weekend accommodations. The Steelers practiced at the estate a couple of hours after arriving, using the same fields previously utilized by the Irish national rugby team ahead of matches in Dublin. They also held an extensive walk-through on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, Rodgers expressed a desire to have arrived to Ireland earlier, but he clarified Sunday that he simply wished he’d had a longer stay in one of his three career international games.
Between practices, the team had free time to explore Dublin.
“It was a short trip, but from the moment we landed, the security guys over at the Carton House were hilarious,” Rodgers said. “The Guinness was good in downtown Dublin. It will be a nice flight back with hopefully a yearly return by us or two other teams.”
Though most of the trip was a positive experience, Steelers backup quarterback Skylar Thompson, who wasn’t scheduled to play because he’s on injured reserve, was robbed on Friday night, but he was at the game on Sunday in a sweatsuit.
Asked if Dublin did enough to earn another NFL game, Rodgers was definitive.
“100 percent,” he said. “Yes.”
