Steelers Now
With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 NFL schedule released last week, I’ve decided to rank the road designations from best to worst. The criteria for the exercise is based off the stadium, city, opponent, atmosphere, storylines and time of the year.
While not technically a road game, the Steelers will make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean to Ireland to host the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park in Dublin.
The Steelers-Vikings game will be a historic event on many fronts. Steelers president Art Rooney II said the demand for the Ireland game has been tremendous.
“We had a little bit of input, not a lot in terms of the date and our opponent in Ireland, but we’re happy with how the game fell (on the schedule) and where it falls on the calendar. And the great thing is that the ticket demand is already through the roof. We’re going to have a great Steelers crowd in Dublin,” Rooney told Missi Matthews of Steelers.com.
This is an extremely rare opportunity for Steelers fans. Croke Park played host to a preseason game between the Steelers and Chicago Bears back in 1997. That was the only other time the Steelers played in Ireland. Who knows when the next time will be.
Of course, flying overseas is not cheap, but this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Steelers Nation always takes over games on the West Coast. The atmosphere should be electric too with it being in primetime.
SoFi Stadium is one of the nicest stadiums in the NFL. An architectural masterpiece. A trip to Manhattan Beach, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, or any of the prestigious Southern California beaches also sounds enticing in November.
If you want to double-dip on football action for the weekend, USC plays Northwestern at the historic L.A. Coliseum on Saturday.
If Aaron Rodgers signs with the Steelers, this game will have a slew of headlines. The mercurial Rodgers would love nothing more than to get back at his former teams. I’m sure that’s vice versa, too.
MetLife Stadium is in the shadows of New York City, so there’s a litany of entertainment options for the weekend outside of the game.
The stadium itself is rather dull. It’s massive, though.
The Bears are coming off a strong season and enter a new era with franchise quarterback Caleb Williams and several newly drafted weapons to support him. They’re also led by first-year head coach Ben Johnson, the former offensive coordinator in Detroit. The matchup should be an intriguing test for both teams.
The last time the Steelers faced the Bears was in 2017—a game remembered more for controversy than the action on the field, as the Steelers stayed in the locker room during the national anthem, with only Alejandro Villanueva appearing on the sideline. Pittsburgh went on to win that game in gritty fashion with an...
