First, a radio plug. I’ll make my weekly appearance on Dizzo’s Den at 6:30 tonight on 970-AM WDAY and wday.com to talk some Minnesota Twins baseball. Give us a call at 293-9000 if you’d like to voice your opinion.

The Minnesota Vikings’ 2011 schedule was released on Tuesday. Yet doubt remains as to whether or not there will be a season due to the NFL lockout.

At this point, I still feel pretty confident there will be a season. The NFL is smart enough to know what would happen if players were locked out and games were missed. This league has made huge financial gains decade after decade, getting to the point now where the release of the schedule is televised on ESPN or ESPN2. They can’t give that up.

But anyway, onto the schedule. I couldn’t help but notice last night that the Vikings benefit from being a non-playoff team last year with their home schedule. Beyond divisional opponents, they host Oakland, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Denver and New Orleans. Some respectable teams, but the Saints were the only heavy hitter last year.

The road schedule is another matter. At Atlanta. At San Diego. At Kansas City. Tough games there. (Also at Carolina and Washington … not so tough on paper right now).

For me, the one thing I took notice of was the Vikings hosting the Chicago Bears on the final weekend of the regular season. Kind of a bummer for this Bears fan, who doesn’t like to travel great distances in the winter months. I did so last year for the TCF Bank Stadium game. I might have to again, though I’m holding out hope I can persuade my Vikings-loving brother to make the road trip to Chicago for Vikings-Bears in October.