3. Less than half at noon, for now
Seven games are currently scheduled for noon kickoffs, which could increase depending on what happens with the Vikings and Commanders seasons and what implications exist for Minnesota, Chicago and the rest of the league in Week 18.
NFL Flex Scheduling begins in Week 5 and could affect some prime-time games, but for now, Minnesota is scheduled for four such appearances: Week 9 vs. Buffalo on Monday Night Football, Week 11 vs. San Francisco in Mexico on Sunday Night Football, Week 14 at New England on Thursday Night Football and Week 15 vs. Detroit on Sunday Night Football.
It will be up to the Vikings to play to keep those time slots. There are also two games right now in which Minnesota will be heavily featured for much of the country in the 3:25 p.m. time slot on CBS (Week 1 vs. Green Bay and Week 13 vs. Carolina).
The Carolina timing right before visiting New England (the third time in four seasons that Minnesota only has a road Thursday game) further shrinks the window for recovery.
A timing rarity is the appearance of two games scheduled for 3:05 p.m. kickoffs (Week 3 at Tampa Bay and Week 4 at home against Miami).
In the past 25 seasons, the Vikings have only had 14 games kick off at 3:05 p.m., and it’s usually been when visiting the Cardinals, Chargers or Seahawks (three times each). A 2007 game at Detroit is the only instance since 2001 of Minnesota traveling east and playing at that time slot.
The Week 4 game against the Dolphins on the same day as the Twin Cities Marathon, which starts in Minneapolis and ends in St. Paul, will be the first instance since at least 2001 of a 3:05 p.m. kickoff in Minnesota. In 2012, however, the Vikings hosted the Titans in a game that was moved from noon to 3:15 because of the race.
