The NFL schedulers might be pulling their hair out right now because the league is staring down a potentially massive flex involving not one, but *two* prime time games for the Minnesota Vikings. With new scheduling rules kicking in earlier this season, the league has the power to move games around, and they might need to use it fast.
Eagles-Commanders on SNF? No Thanks.
Right now, Week 8’s Sunday Night Football slot is slated for the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles battling the 1-4-1 Washington Commanders. Yeah, you read that right. Usually, the NFL would rather get a root canal without Novocain than yank an all-NFC East game from prime time, but Jalen Hurts is out for the season, and let’s be real, neither team is looking hot. So, the league is definitely scrambling for better options. One of those options, a super enticing one, is looking out of the NFC North. The (currently) 5-0 Minnesota Vikings are set to face the (currently) 3-2 Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Week 8. Think about it: if the season wrapped up today, the *entire* NFC North would be in the playoff field. That’s the kind of matchup the league absolutely loves to put on NBC.
The NFL’s Prime Time Puzzle
But here’s where it gets wild, man. There are two huge catches to this whole idea. First off, the league has to give a twelve-day heads-up for any flex to Sunday Night Football. That means they have to make the call… today. Seriously, if it’s happening, we’re gonna know real soon. The second, and maybe even bigger, problem is an NFL rule that says at least one of the two home-and-home games in any divisional rivalry *has* to be played in one of those noon Sunday windows during the season. And guess what? The Vikings and Lions are *already* scheduled for another prime time showdown in Week 15 at U.S. Bank Stadium. That’s already a Sunday Night Football game! So, for the league to flex the Week 8 Vikings at Lions game into SNF, they’d have to bump that Week 15 Lions at Vikings matchup out of Sunday Night Football and into the Sunday noon window. Oh, and then they’d still need to find *another* game to put in the Week 15 Sunday Night slot. What a headache, right?
We should find out pretty quickly if the league is going to go through all this trouble to flex a game into the Week 8 Sunday Night Football spot and ditch that Eagles/Commanders matchup. That Vikings/Lions game really does look like the best candidate out there for a swap, despite all the crazy hoops the NFL would have to jump through.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Daily Norseman.
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