DUBLIN — As the Vikings considered their veteran quarterback options before the 2025 season, they talked briefly with Aaron Rodgers, whom sources said wanted to play in Minnesota. They eventually decided to move on without signing the four-time MVP, who agreed to a one-year deal with the Steelers instead. Before Sunday’s game against the Steelers in Ireland, several Vikings officials suspected Rodgers would come into the game with something to prove to his old rival.
With the help of a pass rush that battered Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz and forced two turnovers, Rodgers got the last laugh.
He completed 18 of his 22 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, while the Steelers sacked Wentz six times and intercepted him twice in a 24-21 win over the Vikings at Croke Park. Minnesota’s loss in Dublin, during the NFL’s first regular-season game there, ended its four-game international win streak and dropped the Vikings to 2-2 for the season.
Wentz completed 30 of his 46 passes for 350 yards and two touchdowns, hitting Jordan Addison for 81 yards on an open throw downfield before he found Jalen Nailor for a fourth-down score that made it 24-21 with about two minutes left.
For much of the day, though, the Steelers overwhelmed the Vikings’ depleted offensive line, also holding Jordan Mason in check for just 52 yards on 14 carries.
The Vikings had a chance to set up Will Reichard for the game-tying field goal after they stopped the Steelers on fourth down with about a minute left. But Wentz took an intentional grounding penalty on a first-and-10 from the Vikings’ 39, when he was retreating from pressure, and after he spiked the ball on third down, the Vikings were called for a delay of game. Wentz threw incomplete over the middle to Addison on fourth down to end it.
Listen to postgame “Access Vikings” podcast:
Why it happened
The Vikings’ offensive line, which was using its third combination in four weeks, was again ravaged by injuries, with right tackle Brian O’Neill leaving because of a knee injury he sustained on Reichard’s field-goal attempt in the first quarter and center Ryan Kelly sustaining his second concussion of the season. Backup center Michael Jurgens was briefly in the medical tent, as well, and the Vikings finished the game with backups at three of their five spots on the line. It meant Wentz became the third different Vikings quarterback in the calendar year 2025 to be sacked six times or more in a game. Sam Darnold was taken down nine times in the playoff loss to the L.A. Rams in January, and J.J. McCarthy was sacked six times two weeks ago against the Atlanta Falcons.
