Ouch!published at 14:50 BST 28 September

14:50 BST 28 September

Minnesota 0 Pittsburgh 0

SACK! Wentz has time but no open targets and goes down

Vikings are knocking on the door now at the 18 yard line - 2nd & 12.

Wentz to Jefferson once more, a short pass, setting up 3rd & 9

Greg Olsen
Former NFL Tight End on Channel 5

These are the two best defences in the league but the Steelers are the best at knocking the ball loose and returning it.

Jordan Mason touched it out of bounds which makes it dead. The Vikings caught a massive break there.

TURNOVER!! And it's run back all the way for a touchdown!!

Jalen Ramsey takes it back to the house....but the officials rule, after a replay, that Mason was out of bounds before he fumbled.

Vikings retain possession!

Another Wentz pass to Jefferson and the Vikings are 2nd and 1 at midfield. And it's another first down as Jordan Mason breaks through.

A gain of seven yards on the ground and the chains are moving

Greg Olsen
Former NFL Tight End

The Steelers will have focused on that first drive of the game all week and they just didn't perform as they should have.

That was ugly.

4th & 12 and the Steelers are going to have to punt after Rodgers can't make the necessary yards with a short pass under pressure

Rodgers is sacked on the the first down of the game! Pittsburgh make back some yardage on the second down with a completion to Gainwell...but it's 3rd and 12

Ben Collins
BBC Sport at Croke Park

Image source, Reuters

Asked on Wednesday what he was looking forward to in Ireland, Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers replied: “Guinness.”

So after the Steelers touched down on Friday morning, the NFL's four-time MVP was soon asked about ‘the black stuff’ again.

“I'm a huge fan,” he said. “I don't really drink beer, but if I do, I drink Guinness. That's not a BS line that I'm telling you guys, because I'm in Ireland, that's the truth.

“I've heard it tastes different off the tap in Ireland than in the States, so I'm excited about seeing what it tastes like here.”

Rodgers did say he managed to try some on a visit to Northern Ireland - apparently after going to four bars to find one that had it on draught. Perhaps he finally gets to sample a pint later – but only if the Steelers win, of course.

Reichard gets us underway - and the Steelers' return from Trey Sermon is up to the 35 yd line

The Vikings win the toss and defer...

So the Minnesota kicker Will Reichard has the honour of getting us started.

In his second year at Minnesota, a 6th round draft pick, he’s perfect so far this campaign and that includes a monster 62-yarder FG last week.

After five years kicking for Alabama at college, he is the highest points scorer in NCAA history (547).

Irish singer Lyra will now perform the Irish national anthem.

A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, her debut album reached number one in Ireland last year.

While there will be 75,000 in attendance today, 28 years ago it was a considerably sparser crowd.

Dedicated NFL fans were few and far between here in those days, though that small number were taken aback to see the game suddenly arrive on their doorstep.

Local supporter Tom McCormack found it "surreal" to see the team he had followed from afar for so long suddenly arrive on his own doorstep.

The 63-year-old fell in love with the game when University College Dublin's freshman rugby team toured Florida in 1979, adopting the Steelers at the end of a run of four Super Bowl titles in six seasons. In contrast to the widespread coverage available today, the Dublin native remembers following the team through a weekly highlights program broadcast a week after the games had taken place.

"I was the back-up tight end on the Dublin Celts, they were a team run by a couple of people from the American embassy [in Dublin] and in one of the houses around there they had American television," he told BBC Sport NI.

"There were US marines based there and we could see a match every three or four weeks depending on their security detail. Otherwise, it was very difficult. You had to listen to American Forces radio on a Sunday night."

Read more here, external

Image source, Tom McCormack

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist at Croke Park

The biggest cheer of the afternoon so far as Steelers linebacker TJ Watt is introduced.

There was a time this summer when it briefly seemed Aaron Rodgers could have been on the opposing sideline this afternoon.

After leaving the New York Jets, there appeared to be a brief flirtation with the Vikings in a move that would have echoed the career arc of Rodgers' predecessor as Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

Rodgers famously claimed ownership of the Packers' other great NFC rival, of the Chicago Bears, during a 2021 victory, but his 17-11-1 record against Minnesota during his time in Wisconsin was pretty impressive too.

The Vikings certainly got the better of things in London last year though. When Rodgers was a Jet, Minnesota picked him off three times in a 23-17 win that turned out to be final game of Robert Salah's tenure as head coach in New York.

Image source, Getty Images

Ruairi Cunningham
BBC Sport NI at Croke Park

A hard one to call...

Image source, Inpho

Through Pittsburgh's 2-1 start, plenty of focus has been on the play of Aaron Rodgers in his early days as a Steeler.

The former Green Bay Packers and New York Jets quarterback is a four-time MVP but, at 41-years-old, his level of play has been under scrutiny.

Seven touchdowns against three interceptions is a perfectly respectable ratio, if one below his stellar career average, but his quarterback rating ranks 22nd in the league.

Former Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, who won two Super Bowls alongside quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, feels Rogers still brings an "aura" to the organisation, though.

"We're talking about future Hall of Famer. What Aaron Rodgers brings to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's his presence. I've been around Ben Roethlisberger, future Hall of Fame quarterback, and I feel like Aaron Rodgers is the same," he told BBC Sport NI this week.

"When you're around those kinds of guys, it's just the aura that they bring to the table. They don't really have to say too much. You understand that the talent is different, so what he's bringing to the table right now is very exciting.

"For me, just looking at it from afar, it's more of an aura perspective."

Image source, Getty Images