The league announced the pre-season schedules for the league today, and for the first time in a while, the Vikings won't be seeing any of their regular season opponents in the pre-season.

The Beloved Purple will open their pre-season with a road trip to Indianapolis, making their first ever appearance at Lucas Oil Stadium.  (FEEL the excitement!)

They'll follow that up by hosting the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that they've become well-acquainted with over the years.

Their third pre-season matchup will be ESPN's featured tilt on 31 August, as Minnesota will travel to Sage Rosenfels' former stomping grounds to take on the Houston Texans.

And, for what seems like the 37th pre-season in a row, the Vikings will finish with a tussle against the Dallas Cowboys in Minneapolis.

So, there won't be much of an opportunity to get scouting done this pre-season.  We won't see any of these teams again in 2009, unless we see the Cowboys in the playoffs or one of the other three teams in. . .God help us. . .the Super Bowl.  But there you have it, folks. . .the Vikings' 2009 pre-season schedule.  Hopefully the regular season schedule will be coming out before too much longer as well.