The Pittsburgh Steelers made the odd decision to leave late in the week ahead of their international game in 2013, and it appears the team hasn't learned its lesson ahead of its game in Ireland against the Minnesota Vikings in 2025.
When playing in London in 2013, the Steelers left on Thursday night instead of earlier in the week, which would have given players and coaches some extra time to adjust to the time difference — and the results were disastrous.
"That was such a big mistake," star defensive lineman Cameron Heyward admitted. "We were so exhausted and gassed."
Surely, the Steelers, who are led by the same head coach and owner as they were in 2013, have learned their lesson after living through the last debacle.
As it turns out, they haven't.
"From our point of view, I don't think a lot has changed," owner Art Rooney II said to the team's official website on Wednesday. "I think we're planning to leave similar to what we did for the last international trip.
"Probably leave on Thursday and practice there on Friday and Saturday and have the game on Sunday and fly out Sunday night. I don't think it'll be too much different from the last trip."
We get it, it's just travel plans, but this is a microcosm of what is so wrong about this franchise. The Steelers seem incapable of changing anything when it doesn't work, and that is a source of frustration among fans.
It's not hard to see why the vibes aren't high for the Steelers in Pittsburgh, or anywhere else, for that matter.
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