As expected, the NFL approved a 17th game for the regular season, while shortening the preseason to three games.
The Vikings will play Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in that game. The game will be in Los Angeles.
How did the NFL pick the Chargers? They are an AFC team that also finished third in its division last season, so the league tries to match it up as best they can.
That’s probably a bit confusing.
We’ll let this tweet from our good friend Tom Pelissero do a better job of explaining it:
Here are the added 17th games for the 2021 season, plus an outline of how the schedule works going forward: pic.twitter.com/swfcHuTQa9
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 30, 2021
At the very least, this should be a really fun game. We’ll get to see two of the best rookies from last year in the game with Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
To round out the NFC North, the Packers will play the Chiefs (fun!), the Bears will play the Raiders and the Lions will play the Broncos.