Packers-Vikings on November 22 flexed to late afternoon kickoff

Do you dislike noon kickoffs on Sunday? Are you dreading the three-week stretch that awaits the Green Bay Packers, since they have been scheduled to play three straight early games?

If so, you're in luck. The Packers announced this afternoon that their week 11 game in the Twin Cities has been moved:

Kickoff time for the Week 11 Packers-Vikings game in Minnesota (Nov. 22) has been flexed to 3:25 p.m. CT. #GBvsMIN

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) November 2, 2015

With the Packers sitting at 6-1 and the Vikings a game behind in the NFC North standings at 5-2, that should be a nice matchup for FOX with some hefty divisional impact. The other FOX game in the late afternoon time slot that week is a 49ers-Seahawks matchup; that would have been exciting in past years, but it now looks like a bit of a dud.The rest of the day games on the schedule that week are relatively unimpressive, as the best matchup is on Sunday Night between the Bengals and Cardinals.

As for why the Packers-Vikings contest wasn't moved all the way out to Sunday Night, the Vikings' director of communications said that FOX had chosen it as one of their protected games for this season.

For the Packers, that will be the second of four straight NFC North games, coming on the heels of a home game against the Lions, and just kicking off just four days before their Thanksgiving night contest against the Bears. That game is followed by another Thursday night game in week 13, with that matchup being held at Ford Field in Detroit.

The Vikings, on the other hand, do not have another divisional game on their schedule until week 15 when they host Chicago. They will then travel to Green Bay for a week 17 divisional showdown which should at a minimum have significant playoff seeding implications.