The Pittsburgh Steelers still seem to be feeling the excitement from their Week 4 game in Dublin, Ireland. The atmosphere of that event was absolutely electric, especially for Pittsburgh. Former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger attended the game as a special guest, and he was one of the many people that couldn't stop talking about how amazing everything was. He raved about it immediately on an episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger that came out just a couple of days after the game. Everything about it was amazing.
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Steelers fans made themselves known at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland during a matchup with the Minnesota Vikings in 2025.
The week after, he still had to acknowledge the fans from Ireland. On that episode of Footbahlin, he spoke about how loud everyone was singing, and he threw in a quick shot at the Indianapolis Colts in the middle of praising everyone from the Emerald Isle.
"They did Sweet Caroline, and the song cut off because the offense is getting ready," Roethlisberger explained. "People don't realize when you're playing music or pumping stuff in during the game, you have to shut off when the offense [is about to play], no matter where you're at because of noise. You can't do it -- unless you're the Colts, and they pumped it in the first time before we got to the playoffs that year."
Roethlisberger continued to talk about how great the fans were, as everyone was singing Sweet Caroline loud and clear, even after the song got cut off so the Steelers could focus on offense. It was such a great day, but that was a quick little jab at the Colts in the middle of that, accusing them of pumping in noise when he and his unit was on the field trying to play.
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Ben Roethlisberger (right) replaced Tommy Maddox as the Steelers’ starting quarterback after Maddox suffered an elbow injury two games into the 2004 season.
The game he was referring to was a Monday Night Football contest where the Steelers got beat on the road by a final score of 26-7 against the then-undefeated Colts, who were 11-0 after that. Pittsburgh didn't even have 200 yards of total offense that day, as they had no answers for Indianapolis -- or its supposed loud noises being pumped in to disrupt them.
Roethlisberger had 133 passing yards, but he lost 22 of them on sacks. The rushing attack had just 86 yards on 25 carries, and a large chunk of that came from a 24-yard carry by Willie Parker. All in all, it was a terrible game. If the Colts were truly trying to gain an advantage with all the noise coming in when Pittsburgh had the ball, then the mission was very successful.
Steelers Got Their Revenge That Same Year
That was not the last time that the Colts saw the Steelers that season. They met up in the Divisional Round that year as well. Once again, the game was in Indianapolis. However, it didn't seem like they were just relentlessly making it noisy like they did on that November day. This time, it would be the home team that was struggling to figure out the road team.
The Steelers did almost blow it, as they had a 21-3 lead in the fourth quarter. The Colts came back to make it 21-18. From there, everyone knows the rest of the story. Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis fumbles the ball at the one-yard line, and Roethlisberger saved a touchdown with an amazing shoestring tackle. Indianapolis misses the game-tying field goal, as the sixth-seed Steelers pulled off an amazing upset against the top team in the AFC.
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Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger saves the 21-18 victory against the Colts with great tackle.
From there, the Steelers would go on to win Super Bowl XL. The Colts may have won that battle at the end of November in 2005, but they lost the war. Legends were made that season, and not even some pesky noise could stop them from reaching the pinnacle of their careers.
What do you think about Roethlisberger alleging that the Colts cheated with the noise factor? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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