Minnesota Vikings schedule: full game-by-game preview
By Dan Zinski
Week 12 at Detroit Lions (Thursday Nov. 24, 11:30 AM CT, CBS)
For the first time since 2000, fans will get a little Vikings football with their turkey and stuffing. The Vikes beat the Cowboys on Thanksgiving in 2000 and before that memorably defeated Dallas on Turkey Day 1998 with rookie phenom Randy Moss going nuts. The Vikes haven’t played Detroit on Thanksgiving since 1995 when the Lions won 44-38.
This part of the schedule gets interesting for the Vikings. They play against Detroit on Thanksgiving just four days after facing the Cardinals at home. The Vikes then have a normal week of prep before facing the Cowboys on Thursday night in week 13. Then they have a little extra rest time before suiting up against Jacksonville for a regular old Sunday afternoon game.
How will these scheduling quirks affect the Vikings as they try to put together another playoff run? Mike Zimmer won’t allow his team to use the schedule as an excuse, that’s for sure. That being said, I’m sure Zim would prefer to have as many regular old Sunday afternoon games as possible.