NFL announces the date and time of Minnesota Vikings Week 18 matchup vs. bitter rival Green Bay Packers

The NFL waits until the end of Week 17 to announce when each team will play in Week 18. They do this to keep as much drama as possible, with some games having significant meaning while others don't impact anything other than NFL Draft position.

The Minnesota Vikings fit in the second bucket when they face the Green Bay Packers. The NFL has announced that the game will take place on Sunday, January 4th at noon CT.

Minnesota Vikings will face the Green Bay Packers at noon Sunday

The timing of this game wasn't known initially due to the NFL trying to maximize the drama as mentioned above. Last season, the Vikings were in the final game of the regular season in the Sunday night slot against the Detroit Lions. The winner of that game would end up winning the NFC North and the No. 1 seed in the NFC. This season, the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers will end up playing for the No. 1 seed in that Sunday night slot.

Neither the Vikings nor the Packers has anything to play for in Week 18. The Vikings are looking to win their fifth-straight game and finish with a winning record at 9-8. On the other side, the Packers are already locked into the seventh seed and have already announced they will be resting players heading into the playoffs.

Even though this game doesn't have any official meaning with the standings, both teams will want to win this game. This is one of the NFL's best rivalry games, and the Vikings will want revenge after losing 23-6 in blowout fashion at Lambeau Field this past November. It may be backups starting at multiple positions for both teams, but there will be a desire to win from the players on each team.

window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll && event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-383').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-383').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');

This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Dec 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.