AUSTIN, MINN -- Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said things have worked out even better than he expected when Brett Favre joined the team in mid-August. The Vikings are 9-1 and Favre is a legitimate candidate for the NFL's MVP award.

"You really don't expect to be in a situation where we are right now but we're very, very happy to see that Brett Favre is able to make everyone on our team that much better," Wilf told reporters today during the Vikings community tour stop. "[We] welcome the spirit in the locker room and the performance on the field. It's great to see everyone really stepping up and being in there for the hunt."

The Vikings' growing popularity became even more evident today when the NFL flexed their Dec. 6 game at Arizona to a prime-time start on NBC. Three of the Vikings' final five games are now scheduled to be played at night and the regular-season finale against the Giants is a candidate to be flexed to Sunday night.

"It's great. Obviously it means we're doing something right and I hope we continue to do the same thing that we've been doing," said wide receiver Sidney Rice, who also is in Austin today. "Everybody is confident within each other and we feel like the person next to us is going to do their job and hopefully these prime-time games will put us where we need to be."