Your Minnesota Vikings Power Rankings Round-Up

A bit tardy on this one for this week. . .just a fun part of the joys of moving. But since the Minnesota Vikings have a bye week coming up, we can afford to space things out a little bit. Once again, it's time to take a look at how the various experts around the internet view the Vikings after their 34-24 victory over the Detroit Lions this past Sunday. For the most part, the experts seem to be impressed.

Starting with the folks at the SB Nation mothership, however, they appear to be less impressed with the Vikings than C.M. Punk is with. . .well, anything. Despite Minnesota's victory on Sunday, the SB Nation crew managed to drop the Vikings two spots from #13 to #15. What'supwiththat!?

Everyone's saying it but I can't help say the same: Adrian Peterson is from another planet. 5.8 yards per attempt coming off ACL surgery. The guy just isn't real.

Honestly, the Chewbacca Defense makes more sense than moving the Vikings down this week, but whatever. Looking at the rest of the NFC North, the Chicago Bears remain at #3 in the SB Nation rankings, the Green Bay Packers hold steady at #7, and the Detroit Lions drop one spot to #17.

Moving around the internet, we come next to the folks at ESPN. They saw what the Vikings did this week, and were suitably impressed, moving them up two spots to #14.

No one in the league has earned a bye week more than the incredible, unstoppable and apparently bionic Adrian Peterson.

"Apparently" bionic? Pfffft. . .heretic. ESPN also has the Bears holding steady at #3, the Packers holding steady at #6, and the Lions dropping three spots to #17.

Next we head over to Fox Sports. Brian Billick apparently wasn't terribly impressed with Minnesota's performance this past Sunday, either, has he has the Vikings holding steady at #15.

Adrian Peterson has now rushed for 1,000 yards in five of his six seasons in the NFL. He is making it very difficult for Peyton Manning to win Comeback Player of the Year honors.

Man. . .if only someone had already talked about that sort of thing. Fox has the Bears dropping down one notch to #4, the Packers dropping two notches to #6, and the Lions falling six notches (!?) to #18.

Moving right along, we find ourselves looking at the rankings of Pete Prisco over at CBS Sports. Prisco also moved the Vikings higher, jumping them two spots to #15.

Christian Ponder ended his slump, but he was helped by Adrian Peterson's huge day. The Vikings are absolutely in playoff contention.

Yep, the Vikings are in contention at the moment. The first few games after the bye will tell the story of how long they stay there. Prisco drops the Bears one spot to #3, keeps the Packers steady at #5, and drops the Lions two spots to #20.

Next up comes the folks from NFL.com. They also moves the Vikings up, but not too far, bumping them up just one spot to #14.

Impressive win for the Minnesota Vikings, who desperately needed one after dropping two straight and three of the previous four. While I still feel Peyton Manning deserves the award for Comeback Player of the Year, holy cow, Adrian Peterson looks good! At 6-4, this team should pound the rock and play defense down the stretch. Weeks 12-14 loom large, as the Vikes play at Chicago and at Green Bay before hosting the Bears. That three-game stretch will determine any postseason possibilities.

Not really too much to argue with there that I can see. NFL.com actually puts the Packers ahead of the Bears, with the former moving up two notches to #3 and the latter dropping a spot to #4. The Lions fall six spots to #18.

Lastly, doing this a little later than normal means that we actually get a chance to include Don Banks from SI.com in our round-up this week. He follows what seems to be the standard for the Vikings this week, moving them up two spots to #14.

We almost lost track of Adrian Peterson a bit through the Vikings' tumultuous Favre era, but he's reminding us of his greatness this season with a spectacular comeback from last December's knee injury. This Minnesota team is basically being carried on his back, and it's a pretty comfy place to be if you're the playoff-contending Vikings.

Playoff-contending Vikings. . .yep, still sounds pretty damn good. Banks also has Green Bay ahead of Chicago in his rankings, with the Packers going up three spots to #3 and the Bears falling one spot to #4. He also moves Detroit down two notches to #17.

That's what we've got for this week, folks. . .as always, feel free to add any other rankings you might find in the comments, or comment on the ones we've presented here.