NFL Schedule Release: How Many Prime Time Games for the Vikings?

Oct 27, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) celebrates his touchdown run against the Green Bay Packers in the second quarter at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday night the NFL will release the official 2014 schedule, and because it’s the NFL, this simple thing will be done with an insane amount of glitz and glamour.

And because NFL fans are NFL fans, the subsequent hours will be spent painstakingly breaking down every aspect of the just-released schedule.

Prime time games are always a major focus when people go through the schedules. How many prime time games did our team get? Did we get too many? Not enough? Just the right number?

How much does the league hate us?

At least going by last year, the league doesn’t seem to hate the Vikings very much. Despite going into the season with pretty lackluster prospects, the Purple ended up being featured three times in the evening slot.

And ended up going 1-2 in their prime time contests.

One PT game was a Thursday nighter against Washington that resulted in a draft-position-hurting 34-27 victory for Minnesota. If there’s anything you can count on in this world, it’s the Vikings hurting their draft position with an ill-timed win against Washington.

The Vikings also played on Monday night in a game that Josh Freeman will never forget but desperately wishes he could. That night the Giants crushed the Vikings 23-7. The only Minnesota highlight was Jared Allen’s unbelievable one-handed sack of Eli Manning.

The third prime time game was a Sunday night contest at home against the Packers that saw the Vikings going down 44-31. The Vikes would get sort-of revenge against Green Bay a few weeks later by tying them at Lambeau Field (with Aaron Rodgers on the shelf so the tie really doesn’t count).

And how many prime time games can the Vikings expect to have in 2014?

Besides the inevitable Thursday nighter, I suspect we’ll score at least one Monday or Sunday night contest…and it will be against the Packers. The networks love those Packers-Vikings games because they draw nice numbers.

The Vikings may get a third prime timer and if they do, my prediction is that it will be their home game against the Patriots. The networks love getting the Patriots into prime time as much as possible and the Vikings just happen to have them on the schedule this year.

So, I’m going with a definite two prime time games for the Vikes this season, and a possible three. We’ll see later on tonight if I am correct.

Like The Viking Age on Facebook.
Follow TVA on Twitter.
Subscribe to the Fansided Daily Newsletter. Sports news all up in your inbox.