It’s not overkill if you are downloading an unencrypted export, IMO.
If you want to simplify this process for the future (as you should be making vault backups on a regular basis — the more frequently, the better), you can take the following steps for convenience:
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Set up a new browser profile that is dedicated to backup tasks that involve creating unencrypted exports. For this profile only, permanently redefine the default Downloads folder to match the desired location on your USB drive. That way you don’t have to change the browser settings twice each time you are doing an unencrypted export — just switch the active browser profile.
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Create a Bitwarden login item named “Bitwarden Password Protected Export” (or some such), set the value of the “URI 1” field to
https://vault.bitwarden.com/#/tools/export, then click the
icon to the right of the URI string, and change the selection in the dropdown menu from “Default match detection” to “Exact”. Next, enter the backup file password (passphrase) in the “Password” field, and click “Save”. This will allow you to auto-fill the file password instead of typing it manually each time that you make a new password-protected export. Please note that you can’t rely on this as your only record of the file password — you should also document your export file password on your Emergency Sheet.