Who is playing on Sunday Night Football in Week 9?

With no competition from the World Series, Sunday Night Football had a tremendous stage in Week 8 with two of the league's most historic franchises squaring off. The end result didn't disappoint as the San Francisco 49ers staged a second-half comeback to beat the Dallas Cowboys, extending their winning streak in the series to four games while raising more questions for Jerry Jones' team ahead of a critical portion of the schedule.

One of the benefits of the Sunday night package is that the league has the option to flex out a game that didn't age well on paper from when the schedule was released in May. The NFL has exercised its flex power for the first time this season, changing Week 9's matchup to a more compelling one based on the results from the early season.

Which NFL teams are playing on Sunday night in Week 9?

• Indianapolis Colts (4-4) at Minnesota Vikings (5-2)
• Date: Nov. 3
• Time: 8:20 p.m. ET
• How To Watch: NBC/Peacock
• Location: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN

After a strong start to the season, the Vikings played their way into primetime as the NFL flexed their matchup with the Colts onto NBC instead of a previously scheduled Jaguars-Eagles tilt. That game was originally set up to showcase Doug Pederson's return to Philadelphia as Jacksonville's head coach but a slow start to the season for the Jaguars made the matchup vulnerable in the league's eyes.

Minnesota is coming off a controversial loss on Thursday night in Week 8 when the officials missed a critical face mask call in the end zone, turning a potential first down on a game-tying drive into a game-ending safety for the Los Angeles Rams. The loss was the second in a row for the Vikings, who are looking to get back into the win column and prove their 5-0 start wasn't a fluke.

This game is also very important to the Colts, who lost to the Houston Texans on Sunday to get swept by their AFC South rivals and fall to 4-4 on the season. There is also a budding quarterback controversy in Indy after Anthony Richardson followed up a poor performance with a postgame revelation that he asked out of the game for a play in the red zone because he was tired, leading to speculation that Colts' head coach Shane Steichen could turn the offense over to Joe Flacco on Sunday.