You just knew that ESPN was going to get the Packers involved so they could continue to talk about the retirement of Brett Favre. Well it’s going to come in the first Monday Night Football game of the 2008 season according to the Star Tribune….

The NFL will announce this afternoon that the Vikings will play the Green Bay Packers in the Monday night opener at 6 p.m. Sept. 8 on ESPN, according to an industry source. As has become the custom, it will be the first game of a Monday night doubleheader on the network. The game is expected to be played at Lambeau Field and will be the first for the Packers in the post-Brett Favre era. (Do you think there will be a little talk about Favre that night?)

ESPN is probably going to try their darndest to make sure that Favre shows up, and would probably get amazing ratings if he did. The rest of Week One’s schedule should be out later today and I’ll try to pass it on when I find it.

Update: The second game of the MNF double header is Denver at Oakland (Booooooo!). No announcers have been named.

Vikings-Packers to open on Monday night (Star Tribune)