How to watch Vikings vs. Lions online, TV schedule, radio and more

The Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings will get NFC North hostilities under way in Week 1 of the regular season.

by James Brady

Sep 8, 2013, 2:05 PM UTC

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NFL 2013 season, Week 1: Football returns

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The Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions are teams that went opposite directions last year. The Vikings were coming off a very poor season and were expected to struggle with Adrian Peterson coming off an injury, while the Lions were expected to play very well with their elite offense. But the Vikings wound up in the playoffs and the Lions ended up with one of the top picks in the draft.

Now, the two NFC North rivals will meet in Detroit for their season openers on Sunday.

Minnesota is looking like they'll be right there contending again. Quarterback Christian Ponder has another season under his belt, and Peterson is healthier than ever. On top of that, the team brought in wide receiver Greg Jennings this offseason, so Ponder has a top-tier target to throw to.

Of course, the Lions have the top tier target in Calvin Johnson. Matthew Stafford attempted more passes than any quarterback in the league last season and Johnson was the primary beneficiary. Minnesota has been trying to solidify its secondary for some time, and Johnson will surely test it early and often. This should be an exciting rivalry game to get things started.

Game Date/Time

Sunday, Sept. 8, 1 p.m. ET

Location

Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

TV Schedule

National: FOX
Lions Local Affiliate: WJBK 2
Vikings Local Affiliate: KMSP-TV

Watch Online

The best way to watch online at this point is to have an online DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscription, which means you either need to be out of their market or you had to have purchased the Madden NFL 25 Anniversary Edition from Amazon. If you’ve got NFL Game Rewind you can catch the game after it airs. Of course, if you’re out of the United States, then you can use NFL Game Pass to watch the games.