The Vikings' success will result in some prime-time exposure.
The NFL announced today the Vikings' game on Dec. 6 at Arizona has been flexed to a 7:20 p.m. start on NBC, according to the Vikings website. The game originally had been set for a 3:15 p.m. start on Fox.
NBC originally had been scheduled to show New England-Miami that evening but that game has been shifted to a noon start on CBS that day.
The Vikings already are scheduled to be on "Sunday Night Football" on Dec. 20 when they play at Carolina. The change does not come as a surprise given that the Vikings are 9-1 and also feature perhaps the NFL's biggest-ratings draw in Brett Favre.
The Vikings' 30-23 victory over Green Bay on Oct. 5 -- Favre's first game against his longtime team -- drew the highest audience in cable television history as more than 21.8 million viewers watched. Favre's return to Lambeau Field on Nov. 1 gave Fox's its biggest audience for a Sunday NFL telecast in 14 years with a 17.4 rating and 29.8 million viewers.
That was a bigger rating than Fox attracted later that day for Game 4 of the World Series between the Phillies and Yankees. That game had a 13.5 rating and 22.8 million viewers.
This is the third time this season the Vikings have had a game switched to a more-attractive television window. The NFL moved the Nov. 1 game at Lambeau to a 3:15 p.m. start and the Vikings-Bears game on Sunday also was moved from noon to 3:15 p.m. on Fox.
There appears a chance the Vikings-Bengals game on Dec. 13 could be moved to a 3:15 p.m. start on CBS. That game is currently set for a noon start. CBS is scheduled to show San Diego-Dallas at 3:15 that day.
