When the National Football League announced the Week 17 schedule last week, they had the big NFC North matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium at its originally scheduled kickoff time at noon Central. We also pointed out that the league had until Christmas Eve to decide whether they wanted to move it or not.

Well, the league has made that decision.

The NFL has announced that the Packers/Vikings game will now be kicking off during the Sunday late window at 3:25 PM Central. The game between Dallas and Philadelphia that had been scheduled for that time has now been moved to the early window.

This will be the second consecutive late window game for the Vikings after not having played there all season. Originally, there had reportedly been talk of this game getting flexed into the Sunday Night Football spot for Week 17, but the league has already moved the game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Commanders into the spot.

The stakes in this one are pretty high for the Vikings. If they can complete the season sweep of the Packers and get their ninth consecutive victory, then their Week 18 matchup against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field will be for the NFC North title and, in all likelihood, the #1 seed in the conference. A loss would likely relegate the Vikings to the #5 seed and a road trip to play whoever wins the NFC South or the NFC West on Super Wild Card Weekend.

So, if you’re planning on making the trip to U.S. Bank Stadium for what could be the Vikings’ final home game of the 2024-25 season, be advised that kickoff is now a few hours later than it was originally scheduled to be.