NFL Week 15 picks: Consider Seahawks, Chargers and Texans
Lorenzo Reyes suggests picking against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 Locks.
There are only nine prime-time games left to play during the 2025 regular season. Who plays on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 15?
This week’s matchup features two teams with a long history of playing each other. The Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings rivalry dates back to 1961 and hit its peak in the 1970s with both teams consistently battling for NFC supremacy in the playoffs.
The playoffs may not be in the cards for either team this year.
The Cowboys are 6-6-1 with their best shot at the postseason being a theft of the NFC East title from the faltering Philadelphia Eagles in a tightly contested NFC wild-card field. The Vikings, at 5-8, are trying to fight off playoff elimination in Week 15 after falling out of NFC North title contention.
Here’s what to know about the “Sunday Night Football” matchup:
Who plays on Sunday Night Football tonight?
The Dallas Cowboys defend home turf against the Vikings on “SNF.”
What time does the Cowboys vs. Vikings SNF game start?
How to watch Sunday Night Football tonight
- TV channel: NBC
- Live stream: Peacock; NFL+
NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast “Sunday Night Football,” so fans can tune into their local NBC affiliate to watch the Week 15 prime-time game on Dec. 11. Those who prefer to stream the game can do so on Peacock, NBC’s own streaming service, or NFL+, the league’s proprietary streaming service.
Stream ‘Sunday Night Football’ on Peacock
Sunday Night Football preview
The two teams facing off on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 15 are squads with very different season outlooks and trajectories coming into the game.
America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys, are entering a second straight prime-time game and have won three of their last four. Despite a new head coach in Brian Schottenheimer and some defensive struggles early on in the year, Dallas is sitting in second place in the NFC East. The Cowboys’ recent run of success has pushed them back into the playoff hunt with an outside shot at swiping the division lead from the incumbent Philadelphia Eagles.
Though the Cowboys lost their last time out – a Week 14 loss to the Detroit Lions on “Thursday Night Football” snapped a three-game win streak – they’re still very much in position to push for the playoffs. The Eagles’ struggles – as losers of three straight – have kept the door open for another contender to barge into the NFC East lead. Dallas’ offense has been strong all season, and its defense seemed to be turning a corner before getting overwhelmed by Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs last week.
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has already returned to practice in a full capacity following his concussion last week, so the Cowboys’ offense will be at full strength against a tough Vikings defense.
Minnesota has largely looked like the inverse of the Cowboys this year.
From a standpoint of overall success, Dallas is essentially only one and a half games above the Vikings in terms of record. But the Cowboys are in a closer race for a playoff spot than the Vikings, who sit at 5-8 with four games to go and can only hope that many things swing their way to secure a wild-card berth.
Further examination shows that a large reason for the Vikings’ poor record has been their offense. Second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, playing in his de facto rookie season after missing all of last year, hasn’t been able to get things going with star receiver Justin Jefferson. Prior to last week’s 31-point outburst against the Commanders, McCarthy had not gone one game without throwing an interception. Four of his six starts before Week 14 featured two interceptions apiece.
Defensively, Brian Flores’ unit has not wavered. The Vikings have the 12th-best scoring defense despite their quarterback’s proclivity for turning the ball over and rank eighth in yards, EPA/play and success rate allowed to opponents. Minnesota is also tied for 11th with 33 team sacks.
So as the Cowboys and Vikings are set to clash in a Week 15 “Sunday Night Football” matchup, it’s essentially a game of strength (Dallas offense) vs. strength (Minnesota defense) and weakness (Dallas defense) vs. weakness (Minnesota offense). An unstoppable force will meet an immovable object for half of the game, while a stoppable force meets a movable object for the other half.
Ultimately, the Cowboys’ offense’s ability to score points – and Minnesota’s struggles to do so – will likely be the deciding factors.
