The Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals kick off the NFL Network’s Saturday tripleheader at 1:00 p.m. ET. Both teams enter the game at 7-6 in the playoff hunt with four games to play. Entering the week, Minnesota is the sixth seed in the NFC, and Cincinnati is outside of the last AFC playoff spot because of tiebreakers.
Saturday will be a battle of backup quarterbacks with Nick Mullens, the Vikings’ fourth starting quarterback in the last seven games, and Jake Browning, who is getting his fourth straight start in place of Joe Burrow. After Saturday, the Bengals will finish with two of the last three games on the road, and the Vikings will play the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions in Week 16 and Week 18.
When Does NFL Network’s Coverage Start?
NFL Network’s Saturday coverage begins at 10 a.m. ET with “NFL GameDay Kickoff.” Andrew Siciliano will host, along with analysts Steve Smith Sr. and Gerald McCoy. The show will also have insider Ian Rapoport and live reports from the site of Saturday’s games.
The NFL Network will have other editions of “NFL GameDay Kickoff” before the Pittsburgh Steelers-Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos-Detroit Lions games.
Who Are the Game Announcers for Vikings-Bengals?
The NFL Network will have Chris Rose and Jason McCourty in the broadcast booth, with Steve Wyche reporting on the sidelines.
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Rose, who has been with the NFL Network since 2012, will handle play-by-play duties for the game. He has previous play-by-play experience at FOX when calling MLB and NFL games. Also at FOX, Rose was a host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period and was a studio host for the network’s MLB coverage.
McCourty retired from playing and joined the NFL Network and Good Morning Football in 2022 after playing 13 seasons in the NFL with four different teams. He had 18 interceptions in 173 career games as a sixth-round pick in 2009 after playing at Rutgers.
Jason and Devin McCourty became the first set of twins to play in and win a Super Bowl when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII. Devin, meanwhile, is on NBC’s pregame show, Football Night in America.
Steve Wyche joined NFL Media in 2008 and has served in a number of different roles during his time with the company. Along with being a writer at NFL.com, he provides insider reports and analysis on NFL Network’s NFL Total Access.
On Sundays, Wyche reports from stadiums as part of the NFL GameDay team. Before joining NFL Media, he worked at ESPN, the Miami Herald, and spent four seasons as a Falcons beat writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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