Just a quick one for tonight, ladies and gentlemen. Yours truly is a bit on the tired side, and he also has a copy of Brütal Legend. . .umlauts RULE. . .sitting on the kitchen table. And, even with my amazing willpower, even I can only deny the awesomeness of Jack Black for so long. So, let us spend our evening by looking around some of the various sets of NFL Power Rankings and see what the impressions of the Beloved Purple are around the various sports media sites after five weeks of NFL play.
Listings coming after the jump.
They seem to be growing stronger with each passing week.
Fox Sports - #5 (up 3 from last week)
THE BRIGHT SIDE: Brett Favre's definitely made a difference as the Vikings have scored 27 points in five straight games for the first time since Minnesota's record-breaking 1998 squad. THE FLIP SIDE: The Vikes have had the early schedule on their side, with their two toughest opponents (49ers and Packers) at home, while Minny's three road trips were against NFL lowlifes Cleveland, Detroit and St, Louis.
What If Sports - #4 (up 1 from last week)
WhatIfSports.com utilizes football simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 32 teams. WhatIfSports simulated every possible matchup in the NFL 100 times, and used the winning percentages from those nearly 50,000 games to evaluate all teams based on their current rosters and depth charts.
CBS Sports - #4 (no change from last week)
They showed against St. Louis that they are veteran enough to not have letdowns. Now they get two tough ones, against Baltimore and then Pittsburgh. We'll know how good they are in three weeks.
Bleacher Report - #3 (no change from last week)
Adrian Peterson is tied for the league lead in touchdowns (7) and is second in rushing (481 yards).
NFL.com - #4
Walter Football - #5 (up 1 from last week)
A blowout win for the Vikings, but not a very convincing victory. The Rams actually had more first downs (14-9) and yards (207-157) than Minnesota did in the first half. However, they trailed 17-3 at that juncture because Kyle Boller had a fumble returned for a touchdown, and both Steven Jackson and Daniel Fells fumbled inside the Minnesota 2. If you take away the seven points off the Boller fumble, and add 14 points to St. Louis' total, the Rams would have led 17-10 at the break.
But then again, that's why the Rams are the Rams, and that's why I picked the Vikings to cover even though it was a bad spot for them coming off an emotional Monday night victory.
Yahoo! Team Ranker - #3
Also, SI.com's Peter King rated the Vikings #1 in his "Fine Fifteen" in his Monday Morning Quarterback column for this week. So we've got that going for us.
Which is nice.
The SBNation football team should have their rankings up here sometime tomorrow, and we'll be sure to link to them as soon as they've been compiled. Again, we know that power rankings don't mean a whole hell of a lot, but they're always nice fodder for discussion. . .obviously, I've only discussed the Vikings here, but you can feel free to throw out whatever comments you want about any team's ranking on any particular site.
That's all I've got for this evening, folks. . .take care, and we'll see you back here tomorrow with more Viking goodness as we lead up to the big clash with the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday!