NFL season will open with NFC championship rematch

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The NFL season will open with a rematch of the game that may have caused the league to rewrite its overtime rules for the postseason.

The Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints will host the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night, Sept. 9, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed during a web chat on NFL.com Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Goodell did not confirm who the Vikings’ starting quarterback would be in that game. [Updated: 2:21 p.m.: Minnesota Coach Brad Childress said he texted Favre on Tuesday to let him know about the season-opener against the Saints. Favre still has not informed the team whether or not he will play next season.]

The entire regular-season schedule will be released later Tuesday.

In last season’s NFC championship game, a potential game-winning drive late by Minnesota in the fourth quarter ended with an interception by quarterback Brett Favre. The Vikings never got the ball back as the Saints went on to win, 31-28, on a 40-yard field goal by Garrett Hartley 4:45 into overtime.

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this report.