Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams: Key Information and First Quarter Open Thread

We are just an hour (or so) away from kickoff at the venerable Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, ladies and gentlemen, for the Minnesota Vikings’ lone Thursday Night Football contest of the season. Tonight, the Vikings will take on the high-flying Los Angeles Rams, who have won each of their first three games by double-digit margins.

Here is everything you need to know about tonight’s contest.

Time: Thursday, 27 September, 7:20 PM Central time

Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Television coverage: KSTP-9 in the Twin Cities, NFL Network, and Amazon Prime (among other legal streaming services)

Radio coverage: Vikings Radio Network, Sirius Channel 81, XM Channel 226

Line: Los Angeles -6.5, over/under 49.5

Prediction: Rams 24, Vikings 20

Three keys

1) Focus - It’s been a trying week for the Vikings between getting blown out at home as a huge favorite on Sunday and the situation with Everson Griffen. But, this team has to find a way to go out onto the field and focus on the business at hand. I don’t know how they do that. . .that’s Mike Zimmer’s job, not mine. . .but they have to find a way to do it against a Rams team that means business.

2) Take advantage of the matchups - The Rams are going to be without both of their starting cornerbacks tonight, as both Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib were injured last week. That means that Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen should be able to get open early and often. . .provided that Kirk Cousins actually has time to find them. The Vikings need to find advantages anywhere they can find them, and that should be a huge one for them.

3) Get back to being the Vikings’ defense - The Vikings have a reputation of being one of the best defenses in the National Football League, and might have as much talent up and down the roster on that side of the ball as any team in the league. However, they haven’t looked much like that at all this season, and if they want to stop a Los Angeles offense that’s averaging 34 points a game this year, they need to get back to where they were last season.

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We’ll have a new Open Thread at the start of each quarter, ladies and gentlemen. With that, enjoy tonight’s game, and here’s hoping the Vikings can right the ship.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!