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Whoever wins the QB competition for the Minnesota Vikings will be thrown to the deep end of the pool, with the team facing two NFC North games to start the 2026 season: The Green Bay Packers in Week 1 and the Chicago Bears in Week 2.

Right away, the Vikings get heated rivalry games that will determine which team wins the NFC North division. As a result, Minnesota has to hit the ground running to ensure that the tiebreakers favor them in what many expect to be a tightly contested division race.

After the schedule was officially released for the Vikings, head coach Kevin O’Connell shared his thoughts on having two straight division games to start the season.

“It seems like this is where the league has gone, especially with all the excitement of the season and knowing how competitive these divisions are, and ours is clearly one of the most competitive divisions in football,” O’Connell said in a May 14 video on the Vikings’ YouTube channel.

“So getting two, one at home and one on the road to start the season is a big opportunity to start fast. Those division games are important, and we will have to be ready to go, knowing how strong our division is going to be.”

Vikings Ready to Face Two Playoff Contenders

Moreover, O’Connell expects these two games to be tough battles, given that the Bears won the NFC North last season and the Packers made the playoffs as well. Those two teams are also looking to take steps as Super Bowl contenders, so they will be a measuring stick for Minnesota early to see if the Vikings can be playoff contenders this upcoming season.

“Both those teams are going to be really good football teams,” O’Connell added. “So we got to get the guys ready to go for sure.”

Minnesota Could Avoid Micah Parsons in Week 1

While facing the Packers right out the gate is a challenge, the Vikings might be facing them at an ideal time. Now that Micah Parsons is in the NFC North, Minnesota will have to worry about facing him twice a season.

However, there’s a chance the Vikings might only see Parsons once this upcoming campaign. On May 14, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Parsons is a candidate to open the season on the physically unable to perform list.

Should Green Bay place Parsons on the PUP list, the Packers star will not be able to play in the first four weeks of the regular season. As a result, the Vikings’ offensive line and quarterback wouldn’t have to worry about Parsons in Week 1 if the Packers do place their star pass rusher on the PUP list.

“The feeling within the organization has been that Parsons would miss the early part of the season and be back early on,“ Schefter said. “He’ll be a candidate to be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list, so three or four games potentially missed.

“But again, we are still four or five months away from the time the season starts. There’s time for him to recover, time for him to get back. But it certainly feels like the tone has been and the expectation has been that Parsons will miss some time to start the season.”