Ladies and gentlemen, we’re just 30 minutes away from kickoff in Minneapolis, as the 2-0 Houston Texans come to US Bank Stadium to take on the 2-0 Minnesota Vikings. Here’s everything you need to know for this week’s game.

Time and date: Sunday, September 22, 2024, 12:00 PM Central Time

Location: US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Television reporting: WCCO-4 in the Twin Cities, CBS affiliates nationwide, YouTube TV Sunday Ticket

Radio reporting: Vikings Radio NetworkSiriusXM channel 231 (Vikings feed), SiriusXM app channel 820

Line: Vikings +1.5, Over/Under 45.5

Chris’ prediction: Vikings 23, Texans 20

Three keys

1) Win the battle for sales – It’s been pretty easy for the Vikings under Kevin O’Connell. They’re 19-0 in the regular season when they’re equal or better on turnover ratio in a game and 3-14 when they’re not. They’ve been even in their first two games this year, and they can’t afford bad turnovers, especially the ones they had in the red zone against the 49ers. The Vikings are going to have to take care of the ball.

2) Confuse CJ Stroud – Stroud is one of the best young quarterbacks in the National Football League, but this is only his second season. Brian Flores is in the zone now and he almost certainly has a lot of things for Stroud that he hasn’t seen yet. The Texans have explosive potential on offense and they’ll have to do their best to keep the young quarterback off balance.

3) Don’t buy into the ‘revenge’ hype – We fans love to talk about “revenge” games, and that’s on full display in this game with Stefon Diggs and Danielle Hunter returning to Minnesota. The Vikings can’t let themselves fall into that mindset, as the Texans have plenty of talented players besides those two. It’s going to take a total team effort to win this afternoon.

Know the enemy: Battle Red Blog

Twitter: @DailyNorseman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedailynorseman

That should be all you need to know about this topic, folks. Remember, a new Open Thread starts at the beginning of each quarter, so keep your eyes peeled for those topics and move the discussion accordingly.

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the game and hopefully in about three hours we can come together again and talk about how great it is to have won 3-0 against a team that was not expected to do much in 2024.

SCHOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!