Not an easy matchup to promote this weekend as NBC is stuck with a game between the Chicago Bears at 2-3 and the Minnesota Vikings at a lowly 1-4. While you can hype the fact that the two NFC Central Division rivals have been going at it for years, the matchup on paper certainly doesn’t look at that attractive and the Bears performance against Detroit on Monday Night Football didn’t help matters either.
This is a situation where privately, NBC must be jonesing for the flex to come into play before Week 10 of the NFL season. However, there’s always the chance of the Bears and Vikings turning out to be a barnburner.
Here’s what NBC is saying about the game.
A BATTLE IN THE NFC NORTH AS BRIAN URLACHER AND THE BEARS HOST ADRIAN PETERSON AND THE VIKINGS ON SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
COVERAGE BEGINS WITH FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA AT 7 PM ET
NEW YORK – October 12, 2011 – Adrian Peterson, the NFC’s leading rusher, leads the Minnesota Vikings into Chicago for a rivalry game against the defending NFC North champion Bears on Sunday Night Football. Both teams need a win to keep pace with the undefeated Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
Calling Vikings-Bears will be six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 26th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 12-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst in both of his seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, in her first season on SNF.
Coverage begins Sunday with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET with 22-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. Costas is joined on site by Michaels and Collinsworth for reaction to the afternoon games.
Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Alex Flanagan will report from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on the Cowboys-Patriots game.
HOW AL MICHAELS SEES THIS GAME: “You don’t have to have a matchup of unbeatens for people to be interested in what’s going on. And that is how I approach this game.
“The Bears are one of the iconic NFL franchises and no matter what their record is; like the Steelers or the Packers or the Cowboys, people are interested. Even though they are 2-3 and they dug themselves a tremendous hole in the NFC North, they are still the Chicago Bears and people want to see what’s going on.
“The Vikings are in the same boat, even worse than where Chicago is in the standings. But they still have Adrian Peterson, and people love to watch him. Even though Donovan McNabb is not playing well, he’s is still a cache guy that people want to find out, ‘Hey what’s going on with Donovan McNabb?’ Jared Allen is always fun to watch. So they’ve got some stars.”
And later on, the Weekend Viewing Picks, some College Football previews and hopefully the Friday megalinks.
You can also expect an editorial announcement for next week, but it’s nothing major. Just something that popped into my head that I want to try.
