The NFL could be looking for a fresh Sunday Night Football option in Week 8, and the Minnesota Vikings are at least in the conversation.
That’s because the current matchup in that prime-time window - the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles against the 1-4-1 Washington Commanders - doesn’t exactly jump off the page anymore. With Jalen Hurts now out for the season and neither team looking especially strong, the league may be eyeing a different game to slide into that slot.
One possible replacement sits in the NFC North, where the Vikings and Detroit Lions are scheduled to meet at Ford Field in Week 8. At the moment, Minnesota is 5-0 and Detroit is 3-2, and if the season ended today, every team in the division would be in the NFC playoff field. That gives the matchup some obvious appeal if the league wants a more attractive prime-time game on NBC.
But there are complications.
For one, the NFL has to give 12 days notice before making a flex move to Sunday Night Football. That means a decision would have to come quickly - essentially today.
The bigger issue is the league’s divisional scheduling rule, which requires at least one of the two home-and-home games between division rivals to land in a noon Sunday window during the season. That matters here because Vikings-Lions is already slated to be in prime time once this year: their Week 15 meeting at U.S. Bank Stadium is already scheduled for Sunday Night Football.
So if the league moved the Week 8 game in Detroit into Sunday Night Football, it would have to pull the Week 15 matchup out of that slot and place it into a noon window instead, then find another game to fill the Week 15 prime-time spot.
In other words: possible, but messy.
Still, among the Week 8 options, Vikings-Lions looks like the strongest candidate if the NFL decides to replace Eagles-Commanders. And if that happens, Minnesota would wind up with three prime-time games in a four-week stretch: Week 8 on Sunday night at Detroit, Week 9 on Monday night against Buffalo at home, and Week 11 on Sunday night against San Francisco in Mexico City.
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The Colts come in trying to sort out a punt game that was stressed badly in their loss to Tennessee, and that is exactly the kind of opening Minnesota will be eager to attack. With Indianapolis still considering how it wants to handle the spot after that game, the Vikings may not need much to turn special teams into a real separator in a matchup that could be decided by a few swings here and there. [Read more 🡒]
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Vikings' 5-0 Start Just Reopened A Huge Quarterback Debate
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Among the names getting attention is Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, even as some around the league believe Minnesota may be more inclined to stick with its current model of using affordable quarterbacks and developing young talent such as J.J. McCarthy. Herberts recent play has not quite matched the level he established earlier in his career, but his long-term contract makes him the kind of potential swing option that would force a serious decision if he ever became available. [Read more 🡒]