I am aware of strong views both ways...
Examples of prayers to Jesus rather than to the Father in Jesus name are very few.
It's not a strong view. It's what the Bible says. It's a certain aspect of how we first get saved and to become born again spiritually. Jesus is the mediator between God the Father and man (1 Timothy 2:5).
“For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Timothy 2:5).
To not understand this is to not understand the basics of how we are initially saved. Jesus teaching us to pray to the Father is an example model prayer, and not a starter prayer of how to get saved. We see Jesus forgiving sins before the cross, and Jesus becomes our heavenly high priest after He tells Mary not to touch Him, and He ascends to the Father and enters the Heavenly temple by His blood.
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not;
for I am not yet ascended to my Father
but go to my brethren, and say unto them,
I ascend unto my Father,...” (John 20:17).
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,” (Hebrews 10:19).
Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Jesus is the only way to get saved.
He is our Heavenly high priest and mediator to be forgiven of sins.
“So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.” (Hebrews 5:5).
In the Old Testament, if the Israelite sinned, they would offer an animal sacrifice and go to the priest to be reconciled. Jesus is now our only mediator or Heavenly high priest to be forgiven. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, and High Priest. Jesus is the sacrifice of redemption who died for our sins, and He is the ONLY one who can ultimately forgive us our sins because He is our mediator or our go between the Father. We are able to do a model prayer of praying to the Father only because of Jesus being our mediator. I see the Lord's prayer as a model prayer of guiding our lives spiritually and maturing. But when it comes to forgiveness, we obviously go directly to Jesus because He is the One who obviously directly forgives sin. We see it all over the gospels of Jesus forgiving sin. So if that is the case, then we should go to Jesus.
Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ” (John 14:6).