Ah, the 2015 NFL Schedule

THE NFL SCHEDULE IS OUT!!!!

The NFL released the 2015 during a three-hour television extravaganza on NFL Network. What a blast! Whenever I think of the construction of the NFL schedule I can't help but recall the picture of former Commissioner Bert Bell plotting team-labeled dominoes at his kitchen table. A much simpler time. From the mind of Bell to a team of computers. A lot has changed. He only had to deal with about 12 teams and 12 weeks of games. Computers now deal with 32 teams and 17 weeks of games. Billions and billions of combinations. Nearly every football fan bitches about their team's schedule. They really shouldn't. Even with several computers generating many schedules that work there will never be a schedule that makes everyone happy. Those tasked with producing a schedule have to deal with constraints about which few are aware. Last year the San Francisco 49ers schedule was impacted by a quilting convention. Who knew? Just like the NFL players and coaches we should just take the schedule one game at a time and just deal with it.

Here's the Minnesota Vikings 2015 Schedule:

9/14   at San Francisco 49ers-MNF
9/20   Detroit Lions
9/27   San Diego Chargers
10/4   at Denver Broncos
10/11 Bye
10/18 Kansas City Chiefs
10/25 at Detroit Lions
11/1   at Chicago Bears
11/8   St. Louis Rams
11/15 at Oakland Raiders
11/22 Green Bay Packers
11/29 at Atlanta Falcons
12/6   Seattle Seahawks
12/10 at Arizona Cardinals-TNF
12/20 Chicago Bears
12/27 New York Giants
1/3     at Green Bay Packers

Those that actually play and coach the games look for their "bye" when they take their first glance at a schedule. Week 5 is earlier than many like but it could be good thing this year. The Vikings play in the Hall of Fame game so they get started a week earlier than usual. Maybe a week 5 bye isn't so bad. The players might be ready for a break after only four games. Two prime time games. Week 1 on Monday Night at San Francisco. Week 14 on Thursday Night at Arizona. The Vikings are matched up against the AFC and NFC West teams so they'll be doing more traveling than usual. Two of those west coast away games are prime time games. One quirk with this schedule is that they play both of their games against the Detroit Lions before they play another division opponent. Close with the Packers. Last time that happened we were treated to a classic.

The Vikings 2015 season will be the second, and final, played at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The 2016 season will be in an incredible new building. That's exciting but it's been fun to see outdoor home games in Minnesota again.

The winning schedule was number 37,793 of the possible options. Bert Bell would need a bigger table.

It's still more than four months until these games but they feel a whole lot closer now.

Next up, the 2015 NFL Draft. Eight more days.