Predict the Vikings’ first game of 2023

In a little less than 24 hours, the National Football League will officially reveal the 2023 regular season schedule. Sure, we’ll probably know most, if not all, of it beforehand thanks to the various leaks around the internet, but it will become official at 7:00 PM Central time on Thursday night.

I think we did this last year, but even if we didn’t, it’s a fun thing to kill a bit of time.

Who do you think the Minnesota Vikings will open the 2023 season against?

As a reminder, here are the opponents for the purple for this season.

Home Games

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• New Orleans Saints
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Chargers
• San Francisco 49ers

Road Games

• Chicago Bears
• Detroit Lions
• Green Bay Packers
• Atlanta Falcons
• Carolina Panthers
• Denver Broncos
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Cincinnati Bengals

Yes, the Vikings have one more road game than home game this year as the league goes into the third year of the 17-game regular season schedule.

In the past two seasons, the Vikings have opened at Cincinnati and at home against Green Bay. I don’t know if that automatically means that the Vikings will open up on the road this year, but that’s sort of the way I’m leaning.

I’m going to predict, apropos of nothing, that the Vikings will start out on the road this year. Not only that, they’re going to start out in prime time. My pick for the Vikings’ first game of the 2023 NFL season is a road trip to the giant Roomba in the desert to take on the Raiders in the second half of this year’s opening weekend Monday Night Football doubleheader. The league needs a team out west for the second half of the twin bill and, hey, why not have them host a team that won 13 games last season and features the reigning Offensive Player of the Year?

So that’s my prediction, folks. Who do you think our favorite team is going to open up the 2023 regular season against?