The NFL officially released the Minnesota Vikings' 2023 regular season schedule on Thursday night. While there are plenty of exciting games on the schedule, there is one in particular that Vikings fans will circle.

122 days until Week 1

Enjoy The Ride pic.twitter.com/UZgsYsbygF

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) May 12, 2023

Minnesota and longtime Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen parted ways this offseason. Thielen’s almost $20-million salary cap hit made it difficult for the Vikings to retain the Minnesota State product.

Thielen found a new home in free agency, signing a three-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. As fate would have it, Thielen’s Panthers just so happen to be squaring off with the Vikes in the upcoming season.

Minnesota is set to travel to Carolina for what will undoubtedly be an emotional reunion with Thielen in Week 4, who ranks fourth all-time in franchise history with 6,682 receiving yards. Thielen was all class when addressing the split on the Daily Delivery podcast.

“I think there are like two sides of it,” Thielen said. “It was a bummer. I didn’t want to leave Minnesota. I wanted to end my career there. Obviously, that would be the perfect fairy-tale way to do it, right? But that’s not reality. I’m so thankful for that organization, (general manager) Kwesi (Adofo-Mensah) and (Kevin O’Connell) and the staff. The way they handled this throughout the process was first-class.”

Adam Thielen recently commented on his fit with the 2022 #Vikings under head coach Kevin O'Connell pic.twitter.com/41fxeMuDHq

— The Viking Age (@TheVikingAge) May 5, 2023

Though Carolina isn’t typically a destination Vikings fans would travel to for a game, there will undoubtedly be a strong presence of purple and gold in Week 4. It’s fair to question whether or not watching Thielen in another team’s uniform will ever feel normal for Vikings fans, but that’s the business side of football that nobody is quite fond of.