As we know, today is the day that the 2018 NFL Schedule will be announced. We will be keeping track of everything that we’ve heard so far concerning different rumors and leaks throughout the day. When the official schedule is officially released tonight, we will officially have it right here for you, officially. So, bookmark this post and come on back to it when the schedule hits at 7:00 PM Central time, or keep refreshing for different rumors as we come across them.
We will change the dates in the “Date” column as necessary. That’s just there, for now, to help track which week people online are talking about. All times are in Central time because, you know, that’s the time zone the Vikings reside in.
Minnesota Vikings 2018 Schedule
Week | Date | Opponent | Location | Time | Network |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week | Date | Opponent | Location | Time | Network |
1 | 9 September | San Francisco 49ers | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | FOX |
2 | 16 September | at Green Bay Packers | Lambeau Field | 12:00 PM | FOX |
3 | 23 September | Buffalo Bills | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | CBS |
4 | 27 September (Thu) | at Los Angeles Rams | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 7:20 PM | FOX/NFLN |
5 | 7 October | at Philadelphia Eagles | Lincoln Financial Field | 3:25 PM | FOX |
6 | 14 October | Arizona Cardinals | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | FOX |
7 | 21 October | at New York Jets | MetLife Stadium | 12:00 PM | FOX |
8 | 28 October | New Orleans Saints | U.S. Bank Stadium | 7:20 PM | NBC |
9 | 4 November | Detroit Lions | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | FOX |
10 | 11 November | BYE | |||
11 | 18 November | at Chicago Bears | Soldier Field | 12:00 PM | FOX |
12 | 25 November | Green Bay Packers | U.S. Bank Stadium | 7:20 PM | NBC |
13 | 2 December | at New England Patriots | Gillette Stadium | 3:25 PM | FOX |
14 | 10 December (Mon) | at Seattle Seahawks | CenturyLink Field | 7:15 PM | ESPN |
15 | 16 December | Miami Dolphins | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | CBS |
16 | 23 December | at Detroit Lions | Ford Field | 12:00 PM | FOX |
17 | 30 December | Chicago Bears | U.S. Bank Stadium | 12:00 PM | FOX |
As of this original posting, the only thing we seem to know for sure is that the opening game of the 2018 season will be a rematch of the NFC Championship. That means the Vikings will likely start the 2018 season in the same place where their 2017 dreams were crushed and take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, September 6. The game will kick off at 7:30 PM on NBC. (Don’t believe any Eagles fans that tell you it starts at 6:22.)
UPDATE 2:07 PM: According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Vikings will NOT open the season in Philadelphia as anticipated. Instead, the Eagles will host the Falcons. So the Vikings’ season opener is still in question, but it appears they will travel to Philadelphia Week 5 instead.
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Just to make things interesting, I’ll throw out a couple educated guesses of what we might see:
- For the third straight year, it could be a Very Packers Christmas. But instead of the Frozen Tundra this time around, perhaps a home Monday Night Football game on Christmas Eve is in order? (UPDATE 2:07 PM: It looks like the Packers are visiting the Jets Week 16, so this one has been debunked.)
- Speaking of the Pack, look for their first matchup at Lambeau somewhere around Week 7. (UPDATE 12:10 PM: Or even earlier.)
- If the Pack are indeed visiting U.S. Bank Stadium on the penultimate week of the regular season, look for the Vikings to end the season at Detroit this time around.
Again, those are completely unfounded and anything but set in stone—just killing time with some speculation in the nine hours before everything is officially announced.
Keep it right here for more as we approach the release of the 2018 Minnesota Vikings schedule! We’ll be updating this post with anything that comes through leading up to the official release.
UPDATE 1:42 PM: It looks like the following games have been confirmed:
- According to Connor Hughes of The Athletic, the Vikings visit the Jets on Week 7.
- According to John Hendrix of Canal Street Chronicles, the Vikings will host the Saints on Sunday Night Football Week 8.
- According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Vikings will visit the Chicago Bears on Week 11 and host them for the season finale for the second straight season.
- Two more games that have been claimed to be confirmed, and we’re not 100% sure about, but we’re going to put them on the schedule for now anyway: the Vikings playing the Packers at Lambeau on Week 2 (UPDATE 2:11 PM: this one has been confirmed by Rob Demovsky of ESPN.) and visiting the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football in Week 4. We’ll make sure to update this post if those prove to be incorrect.
UPDATE 2:33 PM: According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, the Vikings visit the New England Patriots on Week 13, December 2 at 3:25 PM.
UPDATE 3:30 PM: I usually wait for others to break news, but every once in a while I’ll stumble across a piece of information from a person that I trust enough to run with it. So here goes: sources tell me that the Vikings will open their season against Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers at U.S. Bank Stadium. (I promise not to make a habit of this. Especially if it turns out wrong and I have to correct myself on this post. But it looks like the Vikings will indeed open up with the Niners at home.)
*UPDATE 7:00 PM:* The full schedule has been released. Stay tuned for much more analysis of all 16 games coming up right here on Daily Norseman!