Steelers' Aaron Rodgers Takes Big Issue With Decision Made By Art Rooney II And Mike McCarthy

American football fans in Paris, France will be treated to a Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints game on Sunday. One of the cooler things for those across the pond will be getting the opportunity to watch Aaron Rodgers in action. The 42-year-old is one of the best quarterbacks in history, and this matchup will be the NFL's first ever at Stade de France. It is a business trip for Mike McCarthy and Co., as the team arrived on Friday and won't have much downtime prior to a 3:30 p.m. local start. A win would help the Black and Gold move to 5-2 on the year and put the group in perfect positioning.

There was some controversy heading into both organizations traveling to Europe because of the civil unrest in Paris specifically. However, the league has not made many adjustments to the plans. One strategic move that always needs to be made when franchises play in a different country is travel plans. The Saints went across the pond directly after a Week 6 contest against the New York Giants. The Steelers ended up doing something very different.

Pittsburgh spent the majority of the week at home before taking a red-eye flight on Thursday evening. Then, upon landing, were supposed to head right to the practice field to get a workout in. The weather had different plans though, and that scheduled practice was canceled. A lot can happen in the matter of just a couple of days, and it's easy to argue that players' bodies may not fully adjust to the six-hour time change.

One thing that is beneficial about going over later is the cost of staying there. Instead of having extra bills to pay and receipts to sort through, a three-to-four day stay has less financial consequences than maybe seven. Art Rooney II has been criticized for being cheaper than some owners in the past, so it wouldn't come off a surprise if some were upset about the decision that was seemingly made by the team's owner and head coach.

Rodgers did express displeasure about this directly on Friday. When he was speaking to the media, he did not hide the fact that he thinks the Steelers should have traveled much earlier to France. He has some experience playing outside of the United States, so his suggestion was that Pittsburgh should have departed much earlier in the week.

"I played in three countries now, and each of them we've left on Thursday early evening," Rodgers told the media on Friday, per The Athletic's Mike DeFabo. "Would have been nice one time to come over on a Monday."

This is a direct call-out of the decision-makers who were in the room when deciding travel plans. The team would have asked Rodgers before anyone else about an ideal itinerary. It's pretty evident that he was not consulted, and now has some thoughts about that.

In 2025, though, the Steelers traveled to Dublin, Ireland with essentially the same exact set-up. The result was a thrilling victory against the Minnesota Vikings, and it was arguably one of the best games the team played all season. It's also fair to note that Rodgers may have simply wanted to get there earlier to spend some time in Paris, but it still should be football-focused at the end of the day.

Pittsburgh will now have just a couple of days to get all ready to go for a big non-conference showdown. A win would go a long way in keeping pace in a very difficult AFC North division.

Steelers May Continue To Play Internationally Every Single Year

The NFL has not been shy about expanding internationally. This will continue to happen; and, one day, every single organization might have a contest outside of the United States in every given year. This should be great to expand the game globally; however, travel plans will continue to be scrutinized. This is especially true when the losing team seems to make the wrong decision. Rodgers clearly isn't sold on what Rooney and McCarthy decided for France.

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