Minnesota Vikings 2017 Opponents Locked In

We touched on this briefly last week, but now that it’s become official, let’s do so once again.

Thanks to their loss on Saturday in Green Bay, we now know all of the Minnesota Vikings’ 2017 opponents for both home and away contests. Some of the other results helped to lock these opponents in as well.

Here is who the Vikings will be playing in 2017 both at U.S. Bank Stadium and on the road, to include another trip across the pond to the United Kingdom.

Home Opponents

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• New Orleans Saints
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Baltimore Ravens
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Los Angeles Rams

Road Opponents

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• Atlanta Falcons
• Carolina Panthers
• Cleveland Browns (in London, Week 7 or 8)
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• Washington Redskins

The Rams and Redskins, like the Vikings, are locked into third place in their respective divisions. That’s why the Vikings will play them.

Obviously, it’s way too early to tell if this is an “easy” schedule or a “hard” schedule because the NFL changes so much from year-to-year. After all, this year the Vikings played both of the teams that made it to last year’s NFC Championship Game (the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals), and both of those teams wound up flopping this season. Considering that there are only two games for each NFC North team that will be different on next year’s schedule, there really isn’t a whole lot of difference between getting a “first place” schedule and a “third place” schedule, all things considered.

Anyone outside of the Upper Midwest planning any road trips next season? Any brave souls making the trip across the pond to see the Vikings and Browns play at Twickenham?