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The NFL has added a 17th regular-season game starting in 2021, so here's a look at the teams the Vikings will be taking on this fall.

For the first time in 43 years, the NFL is changing its line-up of regular-season games. Back in 1978, the NFL added two regular-season games and increased the schedule from 14 games to the 16-game season we've been all been used to seeing. But now, according to the Vikings' official website, the league has added a 17th regular-season game to its schedule, starting with the 2021 season.

This new change, set to take effect on September 9th, will also shorten the NFL pre-season, as well-- reducing those games from 4 to 3, starting this year. Which kind of upsets the natural order of things. Previously, each team played 8 home games and 8 away games during the regular season. So just how will that extra 17th game be scheduled?

The Vikings explained the new schedule change like this: 

The Minnesota Vikings and all other NFC teams will visit an additional AFC team (bringing the total of interconference games for each team to five) in the 2021 regular season. The conferences will alternate the following year, with Minnesota and other NFC teams set to host nine home games in the 2022 regular season.

In the Vikings' case, the additional 17th regular-season game will be against the Los Angeles Chargers, at the new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. While the specific dates have yet to be announced, we know the Vikings will host these teams at U.S. Bank Stadium this year: The Bears, Packers, Lions, Steelers, Browns, Rams, Seahawks, and Cowboys.

Meanwhile, the Vikings will be on the road in 2021 taking on the Bears, Packers, Lions, Bengals, Ravens, 49ers, Cardinals, Panthers, and, with the new, 17th game, the Chargers.

And, the NLF also announced that it's expecting to have fans back in the stands throughout its stadiums-- at full capacity, no less-- for every game in the 2021 season. Which, of course, was a much different story here in Minnesota during the 2020 season, when only 250 friends and family members of the team were allowed to watch the games in person.

The Vikings, of course, didn't make the playoffs during the 2020 season. They last made an appearance back in 2019 when they lost the divisional round to the 49ers after beating the Saints in the 'Minneapolis Miracle' game. Now, while the Twins DID make the playoffs in 2020, they were shut-out by the Yankees and extended their post-season drought by another year. Keep scrolling to check out just a few of the things that have happened since the last time the Twins won a playoff game!

Listen to Curt St. John mornings from 6 to 10 on Quick Country 96.5
and from afternoons from 2 to 6 on 103.9 The Doc

10 Things That Have Happened Since The Twins Won A Playoff Game

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