Questions Answered: Thielen’s Availablity, COVID Postponements, Primetime Slot at CHI
Dustin Baker
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The following questions are about current Minnesota Vikings topics, answered by VikingsTerritory. Today’s is the December 18th edition, addressed in a from-the-hip fashion. If you have questions, please email them to [email protected].
Also, please note: These are opinion-based responses. Some answers will be incorrect from time to time. But we’ll try to keep that to a minimum.
Q: Will Adam Thielen play on Monday night?
A: Probably not.
For the second straight day, Thielen did not practice. And that typically indicates a player is a longshot to play unless there is an oddity akin to Dalvin Cook’s stunning recovery in Week 14. Thielen has a high ankle sprain, suffered at Detroit Lions in Week 13. That injury usually sidelines a player for two to three weeks — at a minimum.
The wide receiving corps will likely showcase Justin Jefferson, K.J. Osborn, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, and one of these men.
Q: How will the Vikings be affected by the NFL’s postponement announcements on Friday?
A: The Vikings-Bears Monday night game was not touched by the NFL, even though the Bears have been socked by COVID. Put simply, Chicago is all but out of the playoff race, so it’s “too bad, so sad” on their COVID plight in terms of rescheduling accommodations.
Playoff-contending teams like the Washington Football Team, Los Angeles Rams, and Cleveland Browns were given the benefit of the doubt by the league office, nudging games to Monday and Tuesday. The Vikings will keep a close eye on the Washington-Philadelphia matchup as both of those teams are suitors, like Minnesota, for the NFC’s sixth and seventh postseason seeds.
Right now, the Vikings have 28% odds to reach the playoffs. Of the teams vying for the seventh seed, the Eagles are the frontrunners at 37%, per FiveThirtyEight.com.
Q: Do the Vikings play in primetime every time they plays the Bears at Soldier Field?
A: Yes, pretty much.
The Vikings haven’t played an early afternoon (“noon”) game at Soldier Field since 2015. When the kickoff occurs on Monday night, five of the last six Vikings at Chicago will have taken place in primetime. The one outlier was 2019 when the game started at 3:25 pm Central time.
The way the NFL schedules Vikings-Bears in the last half-decade, Minnesota plays in Illinois at night, whereas the Bears habitually play at U.S. Bank Stadium in the final week of the season.
It’s quite bizarre.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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