Week 2 vs Green Bay Packers (Sunday Sept. 18, 7:30 PM CT, NBC)
The Vikings will open U.S. Bank Stadium with a primetime showdown against their arch-rivals the Green Bay Packers. The NFL schedule makers got it right with this one.
Last year the Vikings and Packers split their two games, with the Vikings losing at home to Green Bay 30-13 then going to Lambeau the last week of the season and stunning the Packers 20-13 to win the NFC North.
Do I even need to mention how huge it will be for the Vikings to get the division race off to a good start by taking out the Packers at home? And it’s the first game in the new stadium. You definitely don’t want to open up your new place with a loss to your most hated divisional foe. Packers fans will be totally insufferable if they somehow beat the Vikings in the first game ever at U.S. Bank.
Despite how things played out last year, the Packers will no doubt be favored to win the North in 2016. And that will be just fine with Mike Zimmer and company. Zim knows how to play the underdog card as well as anyone. This will be cast as an early season prove-it game for Minnesota.