The NFL should do everyone a favor and flex Lions vs. Vikings in Week 7 to primetime

The Minnesota Vikings are the class of the NFC right now as they are 5-0 and atop the conference after a 23-17 win over the New York Jets. The defense has been excellent all season in allowing just 15.2 points per game while the offense has been explosive down the field.

Even though they struggled against the Jets , the Vikings are going into their bye feeling good about themselves. They just exited the toughest stretch of their schedule undefeated and get two weeks to get tight end T.J. Hockenson ready to play and a chance to self-scout to improve their units. When they come out of the bye, the Vikings will have of the more difficult games of the season.

NFL should flex Lions vs. Vikings to primetime

The Vikings will take on NFC North division rival the Detroit Lions fresh out of the bye at noon on Sunday, October 20th. It's a premiere game that will be in the early slate and NFL fans deserve to be able to see this game without having to rely on NFL Sunday Ticket or their local sports bar.

There is a simple solution here: flex the game into primetime.

The New York Jets vs. Pittsburgh Steelers isn't exactly a good game, as the Jets are 2-3 and the Steelers are not an exciting team. They are also playing on Sunday night in week five against the Dallas Cowboys. Moving the Vikings and Lions into that slot would allow the entire nation to see the game.

The NFL rules for flexing are relatively simple:

• For Sunday Night Football, it may be used up to twice between Weeks 5-10, and at the NFL's discretion during Weeks 11-17
• For Monday Night Football it may be used at the NFL's discretion in Weeks 12-17
• Sunday afternoon games may also be moved between 1:00 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET.
• Only Sunday afternoon games (or those listed as TBD) are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, Monday night, or Thursday night, in which case the initially scheduled Sunday, Monday, or Thursday night game would be moved to Sunday afternoon
• For Sunday Night Football in Weeks 5-13 and for Monday Night Football in Weeks 12-17, the NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN) and announce no later than 12 days in advance of the game, which game will be played on Sunday night and which game will be played on Monday night.

Now, there are some caveats behind that. Both Fox and CBS can protect a certain amount of games each year. We don't know if the Vikings vs. Lions game is protected by Fox, especially with the Super Bowl rematch of 49ers vs. Chiefs in the late afternoon slot.

There is Monday and Thursday night flexing but that is not available until week 12 for Monday Night Football and week 13 for Thursday Night Football. That would leave only the Sunday Night Football matchup available for the Vikings vs. Lions matchup.

If the NFL is smart (and is able to), they should announce the flexing of Vikings vs. Lions on Tuesday.

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