Vikings-Bears Monday night matchup will not be flexed
Josh Dobbs and the Vikings will have back-to-back prime-time games as the NFL has decided to not flex the Nov. 27 Monday night game between the Vikings and Bears.
A Vikings spokesperson confirmed to Bring Me The Sports that the game will not be flexed, meaning the Vikings will play the Broncos this Sunday night and then take on the Bears in Minneapolis on Monday Night Football the following week.
Nov. 15 was the deadline for the NFL to announce plans to move the Nov. 27 game. NFL rules mandate that at least 12 days notice are given if a game is to be flexed, so anything later than Wednesday would break the rule.
The league can only use the flex option twice for Sunday Night Football between Weeks 5-10 but then they can do it whenever they want in Weeks 11-17. For Monday Night Football, the NFL can do whatever it wants starting in Week 12, so the Vikings-Bears game was eligible to be flexed.
Week 12 is also Thanksgiving week, so flexing games is more difficult because there are fewer options and presumably tons of travel issues to deal with. Week 12 features three games on Thursday, Nov. 22, one game on Friday, Nov. 23 (Jets-Dolphins) and 11 games on Sunday, Nov. 26.
The Thursday and Friday games aren't eligible for flex, so that left 11 games to swap with the Vikings.
- Saints at Falcons, 12 p.m.
- Steelers at Bengals, 12 p.m.
- Panthers at Titans, 12 p.m.
- Bucs at Colts, 12 p.m.
- Patriots at Giants, 12 p.m.
- Jaguars at Texans, 12 p.m.
- Browns at Broncos, 3:05 p.m.
- Rams at Cardinals, 3:05 pm.
- Chiefs at Raiders, 3:25 p.m.
- Bills at Eagles, 3:25 p.m.
- Ravens at Chargers, 7:20 p.m.
But the NFL will stand pat and go with the original schedule, which is a great opportunity for the Vikings to show a national audience how good they are.
