Flex Alert: Vikings Gets Prime Time Promotion

At noon Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will play football in Nashville vs the Tennessee Titans. Outside of their own fans, and maybe those hoping to catch a Sam Darnold and/or Will Levis turnover-fest in real time, there aren’t a lot of people earmarking this matchup as a week 11 “must watch”.

But for the Vikings, that hasn’t been the case very often. Picked to finish last in the NFC North by most media outlets and online oddsmakers, Minnesota has surged out to a 7-2 start, and they’ve defeated preseason juggernauts like the 49ers and Texans, plus the division rival Packers (on the road), in the process.

Minnesota Vikings may be flexed into prime time again

As a surprise playoff competitor with a huge fanbase spread across the country, the Vikings are a perfect “flex” candidate in 2024. In fact, they’ve already been “flexed” into prime time once this season, when their week 9 contest vs the Indianapolis Colts was moved from noon, November 3 (CBS), to 7:20 PM (NBC) for Sunday Night Football.

With two months remaining in the season, could we see another upcoming game be flexed? According to Ben Goessling (Star Tribune), the NFL has its eye on the Vikings’ week 13 home game vs the Arizona Cardinals, as a possible flex candidate. As of today, the home matchup at U.S. Bank Stadium is scheduled for noon that Sunday (Dec 1) on FOX.

Where would it move to? The likely landing spot would be Monday Night Football (Dec 2) on ESPN, which is currently scheduled to host (2-7) Browns vs (5-5) Broncos. Goessling notes that and flex scheduling for week 13 would have to be announced by Tuesday, per league rules.

The Vikings’ Dec. 1 game against the Cardinals could be a candidate to move to Monday night as part of the NFL’s flexible scheduling process. The league has flexible scheduling rights for Monday night games after Week 12, and it seems plausible the Browns-Broncos game, a matchup of middling teams currently scheduled for Dec. 2, could be moved to Sunday.

Ben Goessling – Star Tribune

Troy Aikman prematurely spilled the beans last month

Then, Ben points to early October, when MNF color commentator and HOF QB Troy Aikman mentioned, on Barstool’s Pardon My Take Podcast, that ESPN and the NFL were already targeting Cleveland vs Denver (week 13) as a likely flex candidate.

“[MNF is] getting good games. There was a time when I don’t know that they could necessarily say that. But, the league has been fantastic, Roger Goodell has been amazing. We’ve had really good schedules, and now, we have flex scheduling. Obviously, that’s what drives viewership and we are lucky the league has supported us the way that they have.”

“There’s a game… we’re at Denver…. it might be Cleveland at Denver, that may end up being a flex, is what it’s kind of looking like, as we talk.”

The Minnesota Vikings were supposed to be an NFC bottom-dweller, but the NFL schedule-makers still gave them two prime time matchups, for 2024. The first was scheduled for Thursday Night Football in week 8 vs the Rams, a game they lost. The other is week 15 vs the Chicago Bears.

Another flex, on top of their week 9 flex, would give the Vikings a total of four prime time games this season. As the NFL season gets into its later stages, TV companies that pay billions of dollars to broadcast NFL games want teams playing who will bring in viewers, usually playoff-caliber.