Vikings vs. Packers Week 17 Matchup Flexed to 'Sunday Night Football'

As expected, NBC announced the NFL has flexed the Week 17 game featuring the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings to Sunday Night Football:

The matchup will essentially be an NFC North title game, with both teams entering the final week of the season at 10-5. Minnesota lost to Green Bay, 30-13, in Week 11.

SNF on NBC made the announcement during its telecast of Sunday's game between the Vikings and New York Giants:

The Packers will stumble into next week's matchup on the heels of a 38-8 loss to the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, though Green Bay has already clinched a playoff spot. The Vikings would clinch at least a wild-card berth if they defeat the Giants.

While the Cardinals and Carolina Panthers have already locked up first-round byes in the NFC playoffs, winning the NFC North would ensure either the Packers or Vikings a home game in the postseason.

Sunday’s announcement comes as no surprise. The league specifically installed a flex-scheduling clause in 2006 to allow six days' notice for the Week 17 SNF game to ensure the broadcast has playoff implications.

Adam Schefter of ESPN speculated the Packers-Vikings game would be flexed over the incumbent New York Jets-Buffalo Bills matchup just before kickoff to Week 16's SNF matchup:

The Packers were the last team to win the Super Bowl as a wild card, doing so as the No. 6 seed at 10-6 in 2010. They’ve won the division four straight years since.

Green Bay started the season 6-0 and looked like an early favorite to reach their second Super Bowl in the Aaron Rodgers era—particularly after last year’s gut-wrenching overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.

The Vikings’ last playoff appearance came in 2012—when they lost to the Packers, 24-10, in the NFC Wild Card Round at Lambeau Field. To qualify for the playoffs that year, they needed to beat the Packers in Week 17 at home, which allowed them to secure the No. 6 seed at 10-6, edging out the division-rival Chicago Bears in a tiebreaker.

Minnesota is arguably the biggest surprise among playoff contenders, entering the season with 150-1 odds to win the Super Bowl—the third-worst odds in the entire league, per Odds Shark—and starting the season 2-2.

Despite the Packers' lopsided win in Minnesota earlier this season, both teams appear to be headed in opposite directions. But in a league as cyclical as the NFL is on a weekly basis, Sunday's tilt should be an exciting one—and possibly serve as a preview of a playoff matchup to come.