Bears Battle The Viking on SNF on NBC, 10/16

Adrian Peterson, the NFC's leading rusher, leads the Minnesota Vikings into Chicago for a rivalry game against the defending NFC North champion Bears on Sunday Night Football. Both teams need a win to keep pace with the undefeated Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

Calling Vikings-Bears will be six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 26th season as the voice of the NFL's premier primetime package; 12-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst in both of his seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, in her first season on SNF.

Coverage begins Sunday with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET with 22-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas hosting the program live from inside the stadium. Costas is joined on site by Michaels and Collinsworth for reaction to the afternoon games.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from Studio 8G at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios and is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com. Alex Flanagan will report from Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on the Cowboys-Patriots game.

HOW AL MICHAELS SEES THIS GAME: "You don't have to have a matchup of unbeatens for people to be interested in what's going on. And that is how I approach this game.

"The Bears are one of the iconic NFL franchises and no matter what their record is; like the Steelers or the Packers or the Cowboys, people are interested. Even though they are 2-3 and they dug themselves a tremendous hole in the NFC North, they are still the Chicago Bears and people want to see what's going on.

"The Vikings are in the same boat, even worse than where Chicago is in the standings. But they still have Adrian Peterson, and people love to watch him. Even though Donovan McNabb is not playing well, he's is still a cache guy that people want to find out, 'Hey what's going on with Donovan McNabb?' Jared Allen is always fun to watch. So they've got some stars."

NFL TURNING POINT AIRS TOMORROW ON VERSUS, 10 P.M. ET

NFL Turning Point, VERSUS' new weekly show co-produced by NFL Films and the NBC Sports Group, continues this Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. The hour-long program, hosted by Football Night in America's Dan Patrick, will air throughout the NFL regular season and will focus on the crucial ‘turning point' moment in several games for football fans each week in a more in-depth way than ever before by utilizing NFL Films' unmatched cinematography and sideline and on-field audio.

This week's episode features:

Raiders at Texans - Raiders with an emotional victory the day after the death of Al Davis. Texans QB Matt Schaub and head coach Gary Kubiak were mic'd for sound.
Why the Broncos seem to be a different team with Tim Tebow at quarterback. He replaced Kyle Orton Sunday and nearly led Denver to a comeback win against the Chargers.
Eagles at Bills - The Bills go to 4-1 while the Eagles drop to 1-4.

NBC SPORTSTALK ON VERSUS FOCUSES ON FOOTBALL ON MONDAY AND FRIDAY, 6 p.m. ET

Hosted by Russ Thaler, NBC SportsTalk, the new daily studio show on VERSUS, previews the NFL weekend on Friday at 6 p.m. ET with two of the most knowledgeable and respected NFL insiders, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Football Night in America and Mike Florio of PreFootballTalk on NBCSports.com and Football Night. Additionally, Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld and ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com will contribute a fantasy segment each Friday.

Monday's NBC SportsTalk program hosted by Thaler and Florio (6 p.m. ET) will recap the week in the NFL.

For more details about NBC SportsTalk visit: http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/sports

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXPANDS DIGITAL COVERAGE

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ALL-ACCESS. ALL SEASON LONG: For the second straight season, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of the Sunday Night Football production, look-ins on SNF production meetings, Michele Tafoya interviews and conversations with SNF talent.

Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/

SNF EXTRA: For the fourth consecutive season, the entire Sunday Night Football schedule is streamed live on NBCSports.com, which comes from NBC Sports' broadcast of Sunday Night Football, plus four additional camera angles and several new interactive features. Sunday Night Football Extra features the broadcast from NBC's Sunday Night Football team: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya.

Sunday Night Football Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause and scroll back-and-forth - even review plays in "slo-mo."

New for the 2011 season, Sunday Night Football Extra features online-only sideline updates and tweets from Tafoya, plus behind-the-scenes notes and images thanks to Sunday Night Football All-Access. Users can also share direct links to any play in the game via Twitter and Facebook, and participate in a Twitter Tug of War with fans of the opposing team.

Sunday Night Football Extra includes expert analysis, including fantasy tips from Rotoworld fantasy experts as well as in-game chats and analysis from ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio. Additionally Sunday Night Football Extra employs online-only in-game analysis from the Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America teams.

SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC - The Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides links, photos and videos exclusive to behind-the-scenes at SNF every week. The page aggregates all SNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.com, SNF Extra, ProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com.

This season, Sunday Night Football on Facebook is looking for the Ultimate Sunday Night Football fan. Facebook fans of SNF can enter for a chance to win a VIP trip to Super Bowl XLVI by telling why they are the Ultimate Sunday Night Football fan. Each week, 14 winners will be chosen to receive a SNF Prize Pack. During Wild Card Saturday, the weekly winner with the most votes will be announced and awarded a VIP trip and tickets to Super Bowl XLVI. The contest began on September 8 and contunies throughout the season.

SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC - At @SNFonNBC this year, Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Michele Tafoya is tweeting from the sideline giving her perspective on injury reports to exclusive real-time game updates. Using tweets, twitpics and twitvids @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players. The Twitter feed also alerts followers about upcoming interviews and features that will appear on Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football broadcasts.

SOCIAL CHECK-INS: Sunday Night Football is new this season on GetGlue and foursquare. Fans watching Sunday Night Football at home have the opportunity to win weekly SNF themed stickers and chances at real-world prizes by checking into SNF on GetGlue every Sunday night. Through foursquare, fans check-in to stadiums and venues around the country and receive tips and tune-in information from SNF as Sunday Night Football rolls into their town.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL VIEWERSHIP NOTES

SNF STARTS STRONG: Through the first five weeks of the NFL season (five Sunday's and one Thursday), Sunday Night Football is averaging 23.0 million viewers, up six percent from last year (21.8 million) and the most through this point in the season in the six-year history of SNF.

The five-week Adult 18-49 demo rating of 9.4 places Sunday Night Football as the No. 1 show of the primetime television season in the key advertiser demographic.

Additionally, SNF currently stands No. 1 among all primetime programs for the television season among Adults 18-34 and all male demographics and No. 2 among viewers and households only behind CBS' Two and a Half Men.

*NOTE: The primetime television season does not include the first three NBC primetime games (Thursday night NFL Kickoff Opener and first two SNF games). Including those three games, SNF is the most-watched and highest-rated show on primetime television.

The five-week average household rating of 13.8/22 is five percent higher than last year's 13.1/22 and the highest through this point in the season in the six-year history of SNF.

The critically acclaimed Football Night in America is averaging 9.4 million viewers and a household rating of 5.8/10 (7:30-8:15 p.m. ET) through the first five weeks, up 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively, from last year's first five weeks.

SNF 6-FOR-6: With 22.0 million viewers for Packers-Falcons, Sunday Night Football starts the season six-for-six versus its competition. This continues a trend for SNF dominating Sunday nights. Last season, "Sunday Night Football" was the No. 1 show all 18 nights (100 percent) vs. its competition (16 Sundays, one Tuesday and one Thursday).

2011 - 6 of 6 (Five Sundays, one Thursday - 100 percent)
2010 - 18 of 18 (16 Sundays, one Tuesday and one Thursday - 100 percent)
2009 - 15 of 16 Sundays (94 percent)
2008 - 13 of 16 Sundays (81 percent)
2007 - 11 of 16 Sundays (69 percent)
2006 - nine of 16 Sundays (56 percent)

REMAINING 2011 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Sun. Oct. 16 Week 6 Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears
Sun. Oct. 23 Week 7 Indianapolis Colts at New Orleans Saints
Sun. Oct. 30 Week 8 Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
Sun. Nov. 6 Week 9 Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
Sun. Nov. 13 Week 10 New England Patriots at New York Jets
Sun. Nov. 20 *Week 11 Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants
Sun. Nov. 27 *Week 12 Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs
Sun. Dec. 4 *Week 13 Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots
Sun. Dec. 11 *Week 14 New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Sun. Dec. 18 *Week 15 Baltimore Ravens at San Diego Chargers
Sun. Dec. 25 *Week 16 Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
Sun. Jan. 1 *Week 17 TBA

*Flex Week

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