Hello again, sports fans. We’re back with another season of putting together a consensus power ranking for the Vikings each week, and with the bye week now in the rear-view mirror, we’re off and running.
Let’s talk to it (rankings are hyperlinked for maximum clickage):
The Rankings
NFL.com — 19th (last week: 16th)
Key excerpt: “…the arrow is pointing upward. But as of right now, it’s hard to know where this team is, given the topsy-turvy start and the rash of injuries.”
The Athletic/New York Times — 17th (last week: 16th)
Key excerpt: “(Justin Jefferson) has done well to survive the quarterback mess
in Minnesota, but it hasn’t been the year fantasy managers were expecting.”
ESPN.com — 18th (last week: 16th)
Key excerpt: “QB decisions are open to scrutiny.”
Pro Football Focus — 15th (last week: 18th)
Key excerpt: “ If (McCarthy)’s not set to go, we’ll have a Carson Wentz revenge game. Wentz’s 61.8 overall PFF grade is 30th among quarterbacks.”
Pro Football Talk — 18th (last week: 18th)
Key excerpt: “We’ll learn a lot about what the 2025 Vikings will be on Sunday against the Eagles.”
CBS Sports (Pete Prisco) — 16th (last week: 17th)
Key excerpt: “They come off their bye with a big home game against a desperate Eagles team. It looks like J.J. McCarthy should be back under center for the Vikings this week.”
The Score — 19th (last week: 18th)
Key excerpt: “(McCarthy) needs to show signs of his first-round talent if Minnesota is going to survive the gauntlet schedule that lies ahead.”
Sports Illustrated — 19th (last week: 16th)
Key excerpt: “Now we wait and see whether Kevin O’Connell will give us what we truly want: the Carson Wentz revenge game against a reeling Eagles team.”
USA Today (Nate Davis) — 21st (last week: 18th)
Key excerpt: “QB1 J.J. McCarthy’s return is still TBD. The Vikes’ schedule is not, now set to serve up four consecutive opponents who qualified for last season’s playoffs. Interesting conundrum.”
Yahoo! Sports — 10th (last week: 9th)
Key excerpt: “The rest of the teams in this tier (teams to watch) are all very good, but there are reasons to be worried about their chances of being a Super Bowl contender.”
New York Post — 20th (last week: 18th)
Key excerpt: None provided.
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Average ranking: 17.5 (192 ranking points/11 rankings| High: 10th; Low: 21st)
Spare thoughts: In case you hadn’t noticed, we added Pro Football Focus to the ranks and dropped NFL Trade Rumors (it appears they didn’t do rankings this week?). What’s hard for me with these rankings is that, in my heart of hearts, I believe the Vikings are better than most of these rankings suggest (and just realized how much I love Yahoo! Sports haha) but I also can’t make a case for them to be above many of them, either.
I guess that’s the issue with unrealized potential. Hopefully, they take care of business on Sunday.
What do you think? Join the conversation below (and recommend other power rankings to add if you wish)!
