As NFL games go, the 4:25 p.m. ET window routinely has the biggest audience of the week — larger than any prime-time game.
That was true on Sunday, when 25.7 million on average tuned in for the window headlined by the Packers shredding the Patriots, 45-27.
It was the most-watched telecast of the week on any network, besting the Bills-Vikings game on Monday night by 4.0 million.
As the NFL is looks for more windows, and potentially heads toward more Wednesday night (and possibly Tuesday night) games, 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday continues to be the best slot.
Currently, that window is shared by CBS and Fox, with one or the other having the game in most weeks. (A few times per year, they both have 4:25 p.m. ET games on the same day.) With all windows (except for Monday night, which is available a year later) opening up in 2030, it will be interesting to see whether the NFL decides to stop splitting all of Sunday afternoon between two networks and selling 4:25 p.m. ET as a weekly package.
Given the audiences generated by that window, it would easily generate the biggest rights fee of any of them.
Packers Clips
Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman may not be available for Sunday’s showdown with the Packers.
Cashman would have missed practice on Wednesday because he is in the league’s concussion protocol. The Vikings issued an estimated injury report because they played on Monday night.
Cashman will have to progress through that protocol quickly if he’s going to have a shot of getting on the field in Green Bay this weekend.
Tight end T.J. Hockenson (wrist, chest) also would have missed practice on Wednesday. Hockenson played 39 of the team’s 48 offensive snaps in Monday night’s loss to Buffalo.
Defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins (ankle), wide receiver Jauan Jennings (calf), quarterback Kyler Murray (hamstring), and linebacker Kyle Van Noy (calf) were the other Vikings listed as out of practice. Safety Jay Ward (knee) and quarterback Carson Wentz (ankle) were listed as limited participants.
Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons had limited work in Wednesday’s practice. He is listed with an illness in addition to the knee injury.
Parsons is in the second week of his 21-day return-to-practice window as he works his way back from the torn ACL that ended his 2025 season in December. He was limited in all three practices last week.
The plan is for him to get team work this week.
The Packers practiced without safety Javon Bullard (ankle/knee), linebacker Zaire Franklin (shin), offensive lineman Sean Rhyan (ankle), edge rusher Lukas Van Ness (back) and tight end Josh Whyle (concussion).
Offensive guard Aaron Banks (knee/hip), running back Chris Brooks (ankle), offensive lineman Travis Glover (knee), linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper (illness), wide receiver Skyy Moore (ankle), kicker Trey Smack (right calf), wide receiver Savion Williams (groin) and offensive guard Kevin Zeitler (ankle) were limited.
Micah Parsons is set to take another step back toward the Packers lineup this week.
Parsons did individual work in his return to practice last week and head coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday that the team expects him to take part in 11-on-11 work during practice this week.
“That is the plan,” LaFleur said at a press conference.
Thursday will be the first day that Parsons can get involved in team work. LaFleur spoke ahead of Wednesday’s practice, which was held at a jog-through pace and LaFleur said Parsons would not participate due to an illness.
Green Bay has a bye in Week 11, which has led to their Wednesday night game against the Rams in Week 12 being circled as the likely date of Parsons’s first game since tearing his ACL last December. A successful return to team drills will make that scenario even likelier.
The Vikings traded a third-round pick for Kirk Cousins on Tuesday because they need to improve their quarterback play, but head coach Kevin O’Connell stopped short of saying that Cousins will jump immediately into the lineup this week.
Cousins is familiar with O’Connell’s offense because of his previous stint playing for him with the Vikings and O’Connell said on Wednesday that will help speed up the acclimation process. He added that there are some differences from when Cousins was last with the team in 2023 and that he wants “to be fair to Kirk and make sure he feels good about it,” but that “we acquired Kirk to join a 6-2 football team and play.”
“I do think it’s still too early to commit wholeheartedly to what the plan on Sunday looks like, but I will say [I’m] excited about the opportunity of spending every minute we can between now and then to get him comfortable and allow him to play for us this Sunday,” O’Connell said.
The Packers are surely preparing for Cousins to be Minnesota’s quarterback on Sunday and it would be a surprise if anyone else is under center, but everyone will have to wait a little longer for confirmation of the Vikings’ plan.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was Kirk Cousins’ position coach when the quarterback came into the league.
Now the two are set to match up on opposite sidelines again after the Raiders traded Cousins to the Vikings on Tuesday.
LaFleur told reporters in his Wednesday press conference that he’s expecting Cousins to start Sunday’s matchup between Minnesota and Green Bay.
“Yeah, he’ll be out there. He’ll be starting. Fairly confident in that,” LaFleur said. “Obviously, he’s got familiarity with their system. Even if he didn’t, he’s a really intelligent guy and I think he’s been playing at a high level.”
What did make LaFleur raise an eyebrow was the trade compensation, as Minnesota sent a third-round pick to Las Vegas for Cousins.
“I was surprised they didn’t get more for him, quite honestly — I was shocked what they traded him for,” LaFleur said. “It was mind-blowing to me.”
While Cousins played under Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell in 2023 and 2024, LaFleur said what Cousins has been doing with the Raiders this year still has relevance when putting together this week’s game plan.
“You definitely watch some of that, see what he’s had success with, what he’s comfortable with,” LaFleur said. “Obviously, he’s got a long track record with that offense with all those years in Minnesota with Kevin. And [there are still] a lot of the key pieces that were there with him.”
In nine games for the Raiders this year, Cousins completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,340 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
There is some more clarity around running back Josh Jacobs’ timeline for return from his broken finger.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Jacobs could return in as few as 2-3 weeks.
Jacobs is set to undergo surgery to repair his broken finger later this week and Green Bay will decide afterward if it’s necessary for the running back to be placed on injured reserve.
Green Bay plays Minnesota at home on Sunday before an abbreviated Week 11 bye, as the club will take on the Rams in Los Angeles on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
Jacobs has played just three games so far this season, rushing for 80 yards on 36 carries with one touchdown. He’s caught 11 passes for 68 yards with two TDs.
Jordan Love has been outstanding throughout the 2026 season, but he had an especially strong game against the Patriots on Sunday.
Now the Packers’ quarterback has been named offensive player of the week for the first time in 2026.
Love finished the 45-27 victory 23-of-29 passing for 372 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also had a rushing touchdown.
Love’s 153.2 passer rating was No. 1 in the league for Week 9 and his 372 passing yards along with a 79.3 completion rate led the conference.
This is the fifth career offensive player of the week award for Love, who last won it for his Week 13 performance last season.
Love and the Packers will host the division-rival Vikings in Week 10.
Yes, the Vikings will be adding a quarterback today.
And while this isn’t really news based on our report from earlier today, it’s worth pointing out that Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Vikings “have identified” Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins as a “prime trade candidate” before today’s deadline at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Cousins played for the Vikings from 2018 through 2023. He spent 2024 and 2025 with the Falcons. The Raiders signed him earlier this year.
If it’s Cousins, his first game would be Sunday against the Packers in Lambeau Field. That was the site of his last game with the Vikings in 2023, when he tore an Achilles tendon only six days after a Monday night win over the 49ers.
He’d then face the 49ers the following Sunday night in Mexico City, two weeks after what would have been his last game for the Raiders — against the 49ers.
However it plays out, they’ll be trading for someone. And it could be Cousins.
In recent days (including today), reports have emerged that certain players will not be traded. That definitely does not mean they’re untradeable.
It means only that the team has yet to get an offer it will accept. The mere process of working the insiders to send that message could give the process one final goosing.
Regardless, not many players are truly untradeable. For all but a handful of players, there’s an offer that his current team would accept.
The only players who currently wouldn’t be traded, in our view, are Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Packers quarterback Jordan Love, and probably 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Any other can be had, at the right offer (up to and including three first-round picks plus more). By now, teams know whether the right offer will be made. Which makes it easy for them to throw out their chests and say the player won’t be traded.
And to reverse course if an offer they can’t refuse is made before 4:00 p.m. ET today.
