Minnesota Vikings 2017 Schedule

The NFL released the 2017 schedule yesterday. It's a sign of the incredible interest in the league that the schedule release is a big offseason event. One that took a two-hour show on NFL Network to present it. We've known the "where" and the "who" of each team's schedule since the end of the 2016 season. Now we know the "when" of each team's games. Here's the Minnesota Vikings' 2017 Schedule.

Week 1 | Monday, Sept. 11 | vs. New Orleans Saints | 6:10 PM | ESPN

Week 2 | Sunday, Sept. 17 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | Noon | FOX

Week 3 | Sunday, Sept 24 | vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Noon | FOX

Week 4 | Sunday, Oct. 1 | vs. Detroit Lions | Noon | FOX

Week 5 | Monday, Oct. 9 | at Chicago Bears | 7:30 PM | ESPN

Week 6 | Sunday, Oct. 15 | vs. Green Bay Packers | Noon* | FOX

Week 7 | Sunday, Oct. 22 | vs. Baltimore Ravens | Noon* | CBS

Week 8 | Sunday, Oct. 29 | at Cleveland Browns (London) | 8:30 AM | NFLN

Week 9 | BYE WEEK

Week 10 | Sunday, Nov. 12 | at Washington Redskins | Noon* | FOX

Week 11 | Sunday, Nov. 19 | vs. Los Angeles Rams | Noon* | FOX

Week 12 | Thursday, Nov. 23 | at Detroit Lions | 11:30 AM | FOX

Week 13 | Sunday, Dec. 3 | at Atlanta Falcons | Noon* | FOX

Week 14 | Sunday, Dec. 10 | at Carolina Panthers | Noon* | CBS

Week 15 | Sunday, Dec. 17 | vs. Cincinnati Bengals | Noon* | CBS

Week 16 | Saturday, Dec. 23 | at Green Bay Packers | 7:30 PM | NBC

Week 17 | Sunday, Dec. 31 | vs. Chicago Bears | Noon* | FOX

(All times are Central; *Time subject to change due to flexible scheduling)

This is a strange schedule. For one thing there's an unusual number of similarities to their 2016 schedule. They have an October Monday Night game in Chicago and close the regular season with the Bears in Minnesota. They play the Packers in Green Bay in Week 16. They also have another Thanksgiving date with the Lions. I can't recall seeing the same two teams play each other on consecutive Thanksgivings. The schedule makers suffered a lack of originality in the Vikings schedule this year.

The strangest aspect of the Vikings' 2017 schedule is the five home games in the front half of the schedule and the five away games in the back half. Four away games in the final six games is a rough way to close the season. The excessive number of home games to start the season give the Vikings a nice opportunity for a nice start. If that happens, here's hoping that the Vikings handle it better than last year when a 5-0 start led to 3-8 finish.

The Vikings have three Prime Time games.
Monday Night Football:
Week 1 New Orleans Saints
Week 5 at Chicago Bears

Sunday Night Football on Saturday Night:
Week 16 at Green Bay Packers

The Vikings are also on the national stage with that Thanksgiving game with the Detroit Lions.

The Vikings have to travel across the Atlantic Ocean in Week 8 for a London game against the Cleveland Browns. These trips can disrupt a season. Hopefully the Vikings will handle it better than they did in 2013. They defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in London but lost four straight games upon their return to the states.

The best aspect of the Vikings 2017 schedule is the Week 9 bye. It's always better to have the week off later in the season. It's also nice to have it after that potentially disruptive trip to London and before an unusually high number of road games.

Now, back to the draft.