The Minnesota Vikings now know where and when all of their games will be played during the 2017 NFL regular season.
It does seem a bit silly to get excited about a schedule release, but with almost seven months of no football in between seasons, NFL fans have to find something to fill their excitement tanks during the offseason.
On Thursday, the NFL released the schedules for all 32 teams for the 2017 season. The regular season is that much closer to happening for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans.
Speaking of the Vikings, their schedule for next year is one of the more elaborate ones. Packed with a few primetime games, a second-straight Thanksgiving Day game, and a trip across the pond to London, England.
Minnesota will be attempting to get back into the playoffs in 2017 after a disappointing 8-8 season last year that left them out of the postseason. Their first test next season will be at home against a team familiar with knocking the Vikings out of the playoffs.
Week 1: vs. New Orleans Saints
Monday, September 11
Saints’ 2016 record: 7-9
Vikings’ last home win vs. Saints: 2005
For the first time since 2012, the Vikings will open the regular season in front of their home crowd. This year, Minnesota will host the dreaded New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Beating the Saints has been a bit of a struggle for the Vikings ever since Drew Brees became the quarterback in New Orleans. With Brees under center, the Saints have only managed to lose to Minnesota once (2008).
But given that this game will be the home opener and on Monday Night Football, the Vikings crowd in U.S. Bank Stadium is sure to cause problems for Brees and the rest of his New Orleans teammates. This will also be the first home opener on a Monday night for Minnesota since 1972 when they faced off against the Washington Redskins at the old Metropolitan Stadium.
Week 2: at Pittsburgh Steelers
Sunday, September 17
Steelers’ 2016 record: 11-5
Vikings’ last win in Pittsburgh: 1995
When the Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers faced off in 2013 in London, Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell was playing in his very first NFL season. Now entering his fifth season with Pittsburgh, Bell is one of the best rushers in the entire league.
Minnesota will have to figure out how to not only deal with Bell’s playmaking abilities, but also avoid getting torched by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown.
With this matchup being early in the 2017 season, it will be a good way for the Vikings to gauge just how good their defense can be this year. If they can manage to find a way to slow down Pittsburgh’s explosive offense, Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer should be happy about his team’s chances in 2017.
Week 3: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, September 24
Buccaneers’ 2016 record: 9-7
Vikings’ last home win vs. Buccaneers: 2001
The last time the Vikings played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was in 2014 during Zimmer’s first season as the team’s head coach. In just three short years, the Bucs have been able to add a bunch of talent to their roster to make this matchup with Minnesota pretty intriguing.
With talented players like quarterback Jameis Winston, wide receiver Mike Evans, and wide receiver DeSean Jackson, Minnesota will likely have their have their work cut out for them in their preparations leading up to this game.
On the defensive side of the ball, Tampa Bay also has a bunch of playmakers. But hopefully, the Buccaneers are forced to put former Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson in the game so Minnesota can exploit his lack of coverage skills. This could actually be one of the more exciting games from the Vikings’ season when 2017 is all said and done.
Week 4: vs. Detroit Lions
Sunday, October 1
Lions’ 2016 record: 9-7
Vikings’ last home win vs. Lions: 2015
After last season’s heartbreaking loss to the Detroit Lions in overtime, the Vikings should be looking to make sure something like that does not happen again in 2017. Especially since Minnesota would have won that game if there was a minute less on the game clock.
Recently, the matchups between the Lions and the Vikings have been rather close and this game should be no different. Expect nothing less than a feisty matchup between two talented teams who will both be gunning for the top of the NFC North next year.
It also gives Minnesota’s fans a chance to see Detroit’s new uniforms, which look exactly the same despite being referred to as “new”.
Week 5: at Chicago Bears
Monday, October 1
Bears’ 2016 record: 3-13
Vikings’ last win in Chicago: 2015
These are not the same Chicago Bears that the Vikings have become accustomed to playing in the past few years. For the first time since 2008, Minnesota will be playing a Bears team without quarterback Jay Cutler on their roster.
It should come as a relief for the Vikings, who have always seemed to struggle during their games in Chicago, especially when Cutler was on the field. In the nine games Cutler started at home against Minnesota, he helped lead the Bears to victories in eight of them.
With no Cutler to worry about and wide receiver Alshon Jeffery off the roster, the Vikings should not have to worry much about a Chicago team with Mike Glennon as their quarterback. However, strange things do seem to happen to Minnesota whenever they make their annual trip to the Windy City.
Week 6: vs. Green Bay Packers
Sunday, October 15
Packers’ 2016 record: 10-6
Vikings’ last home win vs. Packers: 2016
Last year’s Week 2 matchup between these rivals was the first time Sam Bradford started under center for the Vikings. Minnesota won and Bradford played well, tossing two touchdown passes. Unfortunately, the Vikings could not capture the magic from that night and turn it into success for the entire 2016 season.
Obviously, Minnesota will have to deal with the skills of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers when he comes to town. For some reason, Rodgers always seems to play well whenever Green Bay travels to Minnesota.
Last year, the Vikings defense did a great job at preventing the Packers quarterback from hurting them. But in Rodgers’ five games in Minnesota before that, the quarterback went 4-1 while throwing for 281 yards per game, 13 total touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
But so far, Rodgers is winless in games played at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Week 7: vs. Baltimore Ravens
Sunday, October 22
Ravens’ 2016 record: 8-8
Vikings’ last home win vs. Ravens: 2009
Given that the Baltimore Ravens have only been in existence since 1996, the Vikings and Ravens have only played each other during the regular season five times. Minnesota won the first matchup in 1998, but Baltimore has won three of the past four games between the two teams.
The Ravens have not made the playoffs in two years, so head coach John Harbaugh will likely bring out all the stops in 2017 to make sure his team does not miss the postseason for three straight years.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco has never faced the Vikings since Mike Zimmer became the team’s head coach in 2014. But when Zimmer was the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, the quarterback often struggled to perform at a high level.
This matchup will also mark the return of wide receiver Mike Wallace back to Minnesota. Wallace was a pretty big flop during his one season with the Vikings, catching 39 passes for 473 yards, and two touchdowns.
Week 8: at Cleveland Browns (in London)
Sunday, October 29
Browns’ 2016 record: 1-15
Vikings’ last win in London: 2013
Based on last year’s Cleveland Browns team, this seems like an easy win for the Vikings this season. However, the Browns will be adding a number of top draft selections to their roster and do have a few talented parts of their team that could make them competitive in 2017.
This will be the second time Minnesota has traveled to London, England to play a regular season game. In 2013, they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-27 at London’s legendary Wembley Stadium.
The Vikings matchup against Cleveland will not be taking place in Wembley, but will instead be played at Twickenham Stadium. The New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams played a game last season at the same stadium.
Luckily for Minnesota, this game in London still counts as an away game on their schedule so they will still play eight games inside U.S. Bank Stadium in 2017.
Week 9: Bye week
This seems like a perfect place for the Vikings to have their bye week. Right in the middle of the season.
The past two years, Minnesota has had their bye week come relatively early in the season (Week 6 in 2016, Week 5 in 2015). A later bye week may have come in handy for the roster to get some extra healing time at a more vital part of the year, especially in 2016 with all of the injuries the Vikings suffered.
Their bye week for 2017 also gives Minnesota’s coaching staff the ability to accurately assess how well their roster has played so far during the season. This could lead to smarter decisions being made to give the Vikings the best chance at a potential slot in the playoffs.
Week 10: at Washington Redskins
Sunday, November 12
Redskins’ 2016 record: 8-7-1
Vikings’ last win in Washington: 2011
Oh wonderful, another Vikings game against the Washington Redskins. Despite not being in the same division Minnesota and Washington will now have faced off against each other in seven of the last eight seasons.
The Vikings have won four of their last six matchups, while the Redskins have won the last two times in which they hosted Minnesota.
Washington comes into this season’s game with a similar roster to what they put on the field against the Vikings in 2016. Barring any injuries, Minnesota will still have to deal with preventing Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins and tight end Jordan Reed from having a monster game.
Hopefully, Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs will have a similar performance to what he had last season against Washington when he caught 13 passes for 164 yards.
Week 11: vs. Los Angeles Rams
Sunday, November 19
Rams; 2016 record: 4-12
Vikings last home win vs. Rams: 2015
It is too bad that Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater likely will not play in this game because of his knee injury, since he would probably love to avenge what the Rams did to him in 2015 when they knocked him out cold with a late hit to the head.
But either way, this game should be one of Minnesota’s easier matchups in 2017. Los Angeles has a young, unproven quarterback in Jared Goff and a first-year head coach in Sean McVay.
The Vikings clearly have the edge in experience, but perhaps McVay can find a way to turn the Rams into a respectable opponent by the time they come to Minnesota. But probably not.
Week 12: at Detroit Lions
Thursday, November 23
Lions’ 2016 record: 9-7
Vikings last win in Detroit: 2015
For the second straight season, the Vikings will be heading to Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Lions. In 2016, Detroit managed to steal Minnesota’s turkey and walk out of Ford Field with a 16-13 win.
Hopefully this season’s game will be a bit more exciting or else viewers will be falling asleep without the influence of tryptophan. Their matchup last year featured five straight field goals, including Matt Prater’s 40-yard field goal as time expired to give the Lions the win.
It will likely be a close game, but the Vikings will be hoping for a different result than last year’s. Plus eating Thanksgiving dinner is no fun after a loss.
Week 13: at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, December 3
Falcons’ 2016 record: 11-5
Vikings’ last win in Atlanta: 2015
Much like the Saints, any animosity that the Vikings’ fans have built up over the years for the Falcons stems from Atlanta preventing Minnesota from making it to the Super Bowl in 1998. But no matter the result, the games between these two teams have always created some memorable moments.
There was the NFC Championship in 1998 that went to overtime, Michael Vick’s game-winning 46-yard touchdown run in 2002 that featured two Vikings defenders colliding with each other, and Minnesota linebacker Anthony Barr chasing down and causing Falcons running back Tevin Coleman to fumble the ball in 2015.
Coming off their appearance in Super Bowl 51 last year (in which they blew a 25 point lead), Atlanta has the pieces in place to make it back to the big game in 2017. It should be a tough matchup for the Vikings who will be playing their very first game inside Atlanta’s brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Week 14: at Carolina Panthers
Sunday, December 10
Panthers’ 2016 record: 6-10
Vikings’ last win in Carolina: 2016
Depending on who is healthy, this should be a very intriguing matchup for Vikings fans.
Three players who were members of Minnesota’s 2016 roster signed contracts with the Carolina Panthers this offseason. Offensive tackle Matt Kalil, cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, and wide receiver Charles Johnson all traded in their purple and gold jerseys for the Panthers’ baby blue and black.
The Vikings will have a chance in 2017 to prove to these players that they should have never left. Even if Munnerlyn and Johnson manage to play well, it will still be great to see Minnesota defensive end Everson Griffen blow by Kalil for a couple of easy sacks.
In addition to their matchup with some of their former teammates, the Vikings will also be trying to prevent Carolina quarterback Cam Newton from getting his first ever home win over Minnesota.
Week 15: vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Sunday, December 17
Bengals’ 2016 record: 6-9-1
Vikings’ last home win vs. Bengals: 2009
After a week in Charlotte, the Vikings will welcome the Cincinnati Bengals to lovely U.S. Bank Stadium. This will be Mike Zimmer’s first regular season matchup against the Bengals since he left the team to become Minnesota’s head coach in 2014.
It is pretty easy to assume that Zimmer is going to do everything he can to make sure the Vikings do not lose to his former team. But Cincinnati is not about to roll over in this game either. The Bengals are coming off a year in which they missed the playoffs for only the second time since 2009.
The best part of this game could be the potential head-to-head matchup between Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green and Minnesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Rhodes established himself last year as one of the league’s best shutdown corners, but stopping Green will still be a tough task.
Week 16: at Green Bay Packers
Saturday, December 23
Week 17: vs. Chicago Bears
Sunday, December 31
The Vikings will close out with what will likely be two very important games. Both will be against teams from their division and the results of each could have a significant impact on their chances at making it into the playoffs.
Luckily, Minnesota will be playing one of these two games at home, so they at least will have the home crowd to cheer nice and loud while the opposing offense is on the field. But unfortunately, their one away game of the two is on the road in Green Bay at Lambeau Field.
Playing at Lambeau field has always been tough for the Vikings as they have only come out with one win in their last eight games in Green Bay.
Next: Vikings set for primetime in 2017
Depending on their record, if the Vikings can get through this final stretch of games with wins in both, a return to the postseason may be in order for the Norsemen of Minnesota.