Minnesota Vikings Power Rankings Roundup: Week 4
After the first three weeks of the 2016 season, the Minnesota Vikings are one of just five undefeated teams still remaining on the NFL landscape. In keeping with that, they've continued to move up in Power Rankings pretty much everywhere across this vast internet of ours. How high have they managed to climb?
Well, let's take a spin around and find out in this week's Power Rankings Roundup!
SB Nation - #3 (Last week: #5)
No notable commentary about the Vikings in this week's rankings.
Elliot Harrison, NFL.com - #3 (Last week: #7)
The Vikings continue to prove people wrong -- including this Game Picks idiot -- winning with whoever suits up on game day. Sunday's triumph at Carolina belonged to Everson Griffen, Marcus Sherels, Andrew Sendejo, Eric Kendricks, Kyle Rudolph and Jeff Locke (that's the punter, folks). The defense sacked Cam Newton eight times, holding an offense that averaged over 31 points per game last year to 10. Kelvin Benjamin didn't catch a ball. Read that line again.
Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports - #4 (Last week: #9)
The defense has made the leap. It has potential Pro Bowlers at almost every position, and it's finally coming together. The offense wasn't good on Sunday, and it didn't matter. The Vikes also have a fantastic head coach. This is one of the best teams in the NFL.
Cameron DaSilva, Fox Sports - #3 (Last week: #4)
The Vikings continued to roll without three of their best offensive players on Sunday, and they did so against the defending NFC champs. Sam Bradford has taken hold of the offense, and Minnesota's defense is arguably the second best in the league.
USA Today - #3 (Last week: #4)
This is shaping up as the nastiest defense in the league. It's responsible for scoring 16 points and has 15 sacks and nine takeaways.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports - #3 (Last week: #4)
This is a team that will be carried by the defense. That was a special game at Carolina.
ESPN - #4 (Last week: #7)
The Vikings lead the NFL in sacks and have allowed the third-fewest points (13.3 per game). Quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Shaun Hill have played well, but it is the defense that has carried the Vikings to their 3-0 start. The Vikings host the Giants on Monday night in Week 4.
Walter Cherepinsky, Walter Football - #2 (Last week: #3)
Underrated NFL Team: Can you have an underrated, undefeated NFL team? Apparently, as the Vikings opened as 7.5-point underdogs at Carolina last week. The Vikings prevailed, but I still don't think they're getting the credit they deserve! The betting public should be all over Vikings -4 over the Giants, but they're not. Why do people refuse to admit that this is one of the best teams in the NFL?
Chris Simms, Bleacher Report - #3 (Last week: #6)
Take a look at the most talented team in the NFC.
Even without Adrian Peterson. Even without two starting offensive linemen. Sam Bradford threw a few perfect passes and—even against the defending conference champs—the Vikings pulled away.
Why? Because Mike Zimmer's defense swarmed Cam Newton from the second quarter on. It picked him off three times, sacked him eight times and made his afternoon a living nightmare in the run game.
That sounds an awful lot like the way last year's Super Bowl champions won games. I'm on board.
Chris Burke, SI.com - N/A (Last week: #9)
SI.com does their Power Rankings on Wednesday. We will update this post when their rankings are released.
There you go, folks. The Minnesota Vikings, as things sit right now, are universally viewed as one of the three or four best teams in the National Football League. It's a nice feeling, isn't it?
For the first time this year, here's our trend graph to show the Vikings' climb. . .for the most part. . .through the Power Rankings around the internet.
There you have it, folks! Again, when SI.com updates their rankings, we'll update this post and the trend graph again.
Source: www.bing.com