2022 NFL Week 1: Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings

The long, dark tea time of the offseason is over, ladies and gentlemen, as we are officially ready for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season. And what better way for new Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell to get his welcome to the NFL than by looking across the field at U.S. Bank Stadium and seeing Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on the other side?

Yes, the 122nd regular-season edition of the “Border Battle” will kick off the season for the Vikings on Sunday afternoon. Fans have had this one circled since the schedule came out and now the time is finally here.

The Packers are coming off of their third consecutive NFC North title and Rodgers is coming off of his fourth Most Valuable Player Award. However, he comes into this season without Davante Adams on the outside, as he was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders during the offseason. Adams has been a Viking killer for years now, so this can only be viewed as a positive for the purple.

Speaking of purple positivity, the O’Connell era has brought with it an air of optimism in the wake of some ugliness at the end of the Mike Zimmer era. The Vikings will have a new offense and a new 3-4 defense this season under their new coaching staff but have the offensive personnel to score points in bunches. Can the defense get itself immersed in the new scheme quickly?

According to our friends at the DraftKings Sportsbook, the Vikings are a 1.5-point underdog going into this one, while the over/under has been set at 48.

Kickoff for this one will be in the late window on FOX, meaning things will get underway from U.S. Bank Stadium at 3:25 PM Central time. The new FOX #1 team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen will be on the call.