Could Aaron Rodgers Drama Keep Steelers-Packers from Ireland?
The Green Bay Packers have been frequently discussed as a potential opponent for the Pittsburgh Steelers for the team’s game in Dublin, Ireland this September, but Packers executive Mark Murphy believes the Steelers may try to keep that game at Acrisure Stadium, especially if they sign Aaron Rodgers.
Murphy, speaking the Packers tailgate tour on Thursday, said that the Steelers will probably try to keep that game from being moved overseas.
The NFL has not announced a date or an opponent for the game. There are several options beside the Packers, who recently added Ireland as an international marketing territory at this year’s NFL owner’s meetings.
The Steelers will be giving up a home game for the trip to Ireland, as they are required to do once every eight years by the NFL. That means the opponent will come from the group of teams that is currently scheduled to be playing in Pittsburgh in 2025.
The NFL has not forced divisional teams to play overseas and the Steelers are unlikely to want to give up a divisional home game. That leaves six other potential opponents, including the Packers. The Steelers other home opponents in the 2025 season will be the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks.
The Colts will be hosting the first-ever NFL regular season game in Berlin, Germany this season. The Dolphins will be the home team for the first game played in Madrid, Spain.
The Vikings played in London in 2024, which would probably make the Bills and Seahawks the top choices to face the Steelers in Dublin if it’s not the Packers.
The Steelers and Bills have seen a ton of one another lately. They played regular-season games in four straight seasons from 2019-22, met in the playoffs after the 2023 season, and played preseason games against one another in 2023 and 2024, with Buffalo also coming to Pittsburgh for a joint practice between the teams before the preseason game this past summer. Bills coach Sean McDermott and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin were college teammates at William & Mary.
For an NFC team, the Steelers have also seen the Seahawks a lot lately. They played in Pittsburgh as part of their regular four-year rotation in 2019, then hosted an extra game for the 17th crossover game in 2021, went to Seattle in 2023 and are now crossover opponents again in 2025.
Teams sometimes don’t like to take away a home game against teams that have rarely visited, but neither of those would be the case in these matchups.
The Steelers haven’t played the Vikings since 2021, and haven’t faced them in Pittsburgh since 2017. The Steelers also faced Green Bay in those two seasons, but the Packers also came to Pittsburgh in 2023.