Packers vs. Vikings for NFC North crown is Week 17’s final game

The Minnesota Vikings will be back on “Sunday Night Football” for a second straight week.

There weren’t many games available for NBC that directly impact the playoff race, considering 10 of 12 playoff spots are already claimed and the Houston Texans are on the verge of being the 11th, because they’re an overwhelming favorite to clinch the AFC South. So the NFL flexed the one game that will decide a division title, and that will be the Vikings at the Green Bay Packers.

As the Vikings were blowing out the New York Giants on Sunday night, the NFL made it official. The winner of the Packers-Vikings regular-season finale will win the division title and more importantly, host its first playoff game on wild-card weekend. That battle will be played out on prime time.

The Packers and Vikings met in Week 17 in 2012, and the Vikings needed to win to make the playoffs. Adrian Peterson broke the 2,000-yard mark for the season and the Vikings got a dramatic victory.

Hopefully the rematch this season will be a better show than the first meeting. The Packers won 30-13 in Minnesota earlier this season, one of the few impressive performances Green Bay has had since starting the season 6-0. The Vikings played very well in a Sunday night Week 16 game against the Giants, and the Packers looked dreadful in a 38-8 loss at Arizona.

Week 17 of the regular season won’t have a ton of playoff intrigue, at least not as much as we’ve seen in recent years since the NFL switched the schedule to make sure all 16 games the final week are between division rivals. But the traditional Packers-Vikings rivalry to decide the NFC North is a pretty fun way to send off the regular season.

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab