Breer pointed out that some seasons can have some significant discrepancies, where 11 wins by a team facing one slate of games might be more impressive than 12, 13, or 14, based on degree of difficulty.

The scheduled makers have Cousins and his new team coming to U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 2 in what will be an anticipated starting QB matchup between 2024 top-10 picks McCarthy and Michael Penix, Jr., as well as the Week 13 trip to Seattle, where Darnold signed a multi-year deal. Definitely wish Darnold well, as I still do Cousins, because I’ll always appreciate what both committed toward trying to be the best at their craft and help the squad.

When the 2024 schedule was released, I was excited about the team only playing in one prime-time game do the curse of the big-game lights. This team is a lunchpail group that excels on noon Sundays. This may have contributed to the four Super Bowl losses. My question is if I can see this, can the coaching staff set up practices so when they play at these times, they are prepared for the late starts? 100% behind this team. Of three of our four losses last year, two were flexed into night games. Could have been wins? SKOL.

— Tom Black in Des Moines, Iowa

I was reading [the May 19] Mailbag, and your response to one of the questions alarmed me more than a little concerning prime-time games this year.

I have been saying for years that the Vikes are somewhere between mediocre to downright horrid (W/L record) if the game is not played Sunday at noon. The NFL awarding multiple prime-time slots to the Vikes does concern me more than a little.

Secondly, how much would an average Joe have to spend to do a Vikings Ireland package?

— Darin from West Fargo, North Dakota

Combining these questions because of how much overlap there is.

One of the biggest surprises for me from the schedule was back-to-back appearances in prime time out of the gate, but that does confirm the interest level in this team. Minnesota’s willing participation in back-to-back international games created two more exclusive-window games with sides of breakfast here stateside.

The Vikings have done well in that time slot, going 2-0 under O’Connell.

As for prime time, there are a few factors involved. Being on the road in such contests has yielded few positive outcomes, going back beyond the O’Connell era.

In the past 25 seasons (since 2000), the Vikings have played 78 regular-season games that started at 6 p.m. (CT) or later, and the team is 31-47, for a win percentage of .397 that is a far drop from Minnesota’s a .532-win percentage (214-188-2) in all regular-season games since 2000.

The Vikings are 19-14 in 33 home prime-time games and 12-33 in road prime-time contests.