Minnesota Vikings preseason game dates and times finalized

While the preseason schedule for the National Football League was announced some time ago, we’re just now getting the exact dates and times for preseason contests. Courtesy of Courtney Cronin of ESPN (as posted on ESPN’s Vikings page), we now have the dates that the Minnesota Vikings will be playing their games that don’t matter but that we’re all going to watch anyway.

The first game of the preseason will see the Vikings head west to take on the Denver Broncos in the Case Keenum/Trevor Siemian revenge game. (I’m guessing neither of them will be that concerned.) That game will take place on Saturday, 11 August (exactly three months from today), with a kickoff of 8:00 PM Central time.

The second preseason contest will see the Vikings return to U.S. Bank Stadium for the first time since the Minneapolis Miracle to host the Jacksonville Jaguars. That game will also take place on a Saturday, 18 August, but kickoff is scheduled for noon Central time.

A slightly shortened week follows, as the Vikings’ all-important third preseason game will take place at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday, 24 August. In that one, the Vikings will be playing host to the Seattle Seahawks. That game will kick off at 7:00 PM Central.

Another slightly shorter week follows, as the final preseason contest will take place on Thursday, 30 August. This time, the Vikings will take to the road again, heading to Nashville to do battle with the Tennessee Titans. This contest will also kick off at 7:00 PM Central.

After that final preseason game, the Vikings will have less than 48 hours to trim their roster, as final cuts are due to the NFL league office by 3:00 PM Central time on Saturday, 1 September. Remember, there is no longer an interim cutdown to 75 before the cutdown to 53, so we’re going to get a whole mess of roster moves at the same time.

That’s the finalized preseason schedule for the Minnesota Vikings, folks. Now you know.