Keep Your Vikings-Cowboys Travel Plans Intact
Dustin Baker
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If you haven’t noticed, the 2022 Minnesota Vikings season is progressing rather peachy, especially for a team with a first-year head coach.
Leading the NFC North, Minnesota sits at 7-1 through nine weeks, strangling the life out of the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions division aspirations. And because the team has hopped out to a fast start, the Vikings were theorized a flexible-schedule candidate for Sunday Night Football.
While that could still happen during Week 13 and after, the Vikings-Cowboys game on November 20th will not be flexed in Week 11. Keep your travel plans intact. Instead, the NFL chose the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers contest as SNF material.
The Cincinnati Bengals were scheduled to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football in Week 11, but that matchup was moved to 3:25 p.m. CST.
Minnesota’s December 4th game at home against the New York Jets could still be flexed, and the NFL’s self-imposed deadline for the decision is November 22nd. The Jets have an unexpected 6-3 record through nine games, and few would’ve predicted Vikings-Jets as flex material, but here we are.
Still, Minnesota-Dallas will transpire at 3:25 pm CST, the miniature version of primetime, at least for the Vikings, who typically play at noon CST.
Moreover, other Vikings games are eligible for flex scheduling between now and the end of the season. The NFL defines the rule like this:
Flexible scheduling will be used in Weeks 11-18. Additionally, in Weeks 5-10, flexible scheduling may be used in no more than two weeks. In Weeks 5-17, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time.
– NFL.com
Realistically, the other Vikings game after the Cowboys and Jets that could trigger the league’s attention is Week 16 vs. the New York Giants — on Christmas Eve.
As for Dallas, well, Minnesota is due for a win over the Cowboys at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings have hosted Dallas thrice since the facility opened in 2016 and lost each time.
First, though, the Vikings take on the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium this Sunday in the noon CST timeslot. Buffalo is favored by six points.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. 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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