Pittsburgh Steelers preparations for their 2026 international trip began this week with the question of whether they should play the game. Protests, a lot of which appeared violent on social media, in Paris, France hung a shadow over the upcoming matchup with the New Orleans Saints.
But to end their week of preparations, pundits are now questioning whether the Steelers flew to France too late in the week.
The second-guessing of the Steelers’ travel plans received a big boost with reports from former NFL and Pittsburgh defensive lineman Brieden Fehoko saying Steelers players didn’t enjoy the flight to Paris.
“I’ve reached out to a couple Steelers players. One by one, called them individually, text each guy,” said Fehoko on his Friday episode of ‘The Fehoko Show’ podcast. “Same question: ‘Hey, what are your thoughts on the travel? How was the plane right?
“Common them I got was, ‘Don’t know if I can agree with it.’ Another theme was, ‘That plane ride sucked.’ Another theme was, ‘Wish we would have came a little earlier, kind of tired.'”
The Steelers left Pittsburgh on Thursday evening and landed in Paris on Friday morning local time. The trip concluded a little more than 48 hours before kickoff for the Week 7 matchup versus the New Orleans Saints.
Steelers Paris Travel Plans Under Scrutiny
The NFL will play a record nine international games during the 2026 regular season. All of them will occur before Week 11.
So, with roughly one international game per week until Thanksgiving, the logistical difficulties of playing in other countries has been at the forefront of NFL conversations online throughout this season. Steelers fans and Pittsburgh joined that in earnest this week with the team’s historic Paris game.
It’s unclear how many players Fehoko actually talked to. The former defensive lineman said he reached out to a “couple” Steelers players, which would seem to imply he didn’t talk to a majority of the team.
Yet, Fehoko seemed to be concluding what a majority of the players on the roster were feeling about the team’s flight to Paris.
“A lot of these players who I’ve talked to within the Pittsburgh Steelers organization are pissed,” added Fehoko.
Fehoko spent parts of three seasons with the Steelers, but he never made in a regular season game for Pittsburgh. In 2023 and 2024, the defensive lineman was on the team’s practice squad for part of the campaign.
The Steelers released Fehoko midway through 2025 training camp. He didn’t sign with another team and retired from the league this past May.
Steelers’ Paris Travel Plans Under Fire Thanks in Part to Steelers Players