2022 NFL Week 16: New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings

For the first time since U.S. Bank Stadium opened in 2016, the Minnesota Vikings’ final regular season home opponent will not be the Chicago Bears. Instead, the Vikings will face the New York Giants on Christmas Eve with the hopes of further solidifying their spot in the NFC playoff chase.

The Vikings currently sit in the #2 spot in the NFC, but the San Francisco 49ers are hot on their heels, just one game back. If the Vikings and 49ers were to end up tied at the end of the season, the Niners would get a higher seed based on a superior conference record. That means the Vikings just need to keep on winning.

The Giants are also part of the playoff picture in the NFC, as they would be the #6 seed in the conference (and travel to play the aforementioned 49ers) if the season were to end today. Brian Daboll has the Giants playing solid football in his first season as the team’s head coach, and was getting some Coach of the Year buzz earlier on in the season.

For those of you that are attending the game, the Vikings are going for what they’re calling a “whiteout,” which means that they want as many people wearing white in the stands as possible. Yes, I know it’s after Labor Day. . .but if you’re gonna be at U.S. Bank Stadium, please do wear white.

As things stand right now, the Vikings have been installed as an early 3.5-point favorite over the Giants in this one, according to our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under for this one is currently sitting at 47.5 points, which is just about average for what we’ve seen for most Vikings games this year.

This game is scheduled to be broadcast on the FOX family of networks, with kickoff slated for noon Central time on Saturday, 24 December. . .not Sunday.