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On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings found themselves the victims of another defeat. Surprisingly, however, the loss doesn't seem to have affected them all that much in terms of their Power Ranking across the various sites on the internet that do such things. In four of our sets of ranking we used, the Vikings didn't rise or fall, staying steady from last week to this one. In three sets, the dropped, but only a little bit. . .and, in one set of rankings, they even moved up a spot.
Here is the relevant data from this week's Power Rankings Roundup.
| Average Ranking (Number of Rankings) | 25 (8) |
| Average Change from Last Week | -0.5 |
| Highest Ranking (Source) | 23 (Fox Sports) |
| Lowest Ranking (Source) | 27 (ESPN) |
| Biggest Positive/Smallest Negative Change (Source) | +1 (NFL.com) |
| Largest Negative/Smallest Positive Change (Source) | -2 (ESPN/Fox Sports) |
And where the team is at in graphic form, which you can. . .say it along with me. . .click to embiggen.
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So, what are they saying? Let's have a look around.
SB Nation: 25th (Last week: 25th)
No team-specific commentary
NFL.com: 25th (Last week: 26th)
What an ugly, ugly home loss for the Vikings, who only move up because they've beaten St. Louis (and the Rams stunk on Monday night). Minnesota's offensive line was clearly overmatched against Detroit, and definitely misses Brandon Fusco. The unit misses a lot of blocks, too. Teddy Bridgewater was sacked eight times. He was knocked down another 485 times. Just ask Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He surveyed the scene appropriately.
Yahoo! Shutdown Corner: 24th (Last week: 24th)
Cordarrelle Patterson had three touches for 17 yards in a 17-3 loss. At some point, we can't keep blaming offensive coordinator Norv Turner. You have to assume he understands the situation and wants to get a player like that the ball. Maybe there's some blame for Patterson too? (One issue is Patterson is dealing with a hip injury and said he's not 100 percent.)
Fox Sports: 23rd (Last week: 21st)
Despite the return of Teddy Bridgewater, the Vikings offense continued to struggle. After several years of success along the offensive line, things have taken a turn for the worse in 2014 and this game was a prime example of that-Bridgewater was sacked seven times and pressured on over half his drop-backs.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 25th (Last week: 25th)
Teddy Bridgewater came back to reality in his second start. The Vikings better hope there's not more of that coming.
Pat Kirwan, CBS Sports: 26th (Last week: 25th)
Rookie QB Teddy Bridgewater is going to be good, but without Adrian Peterson and injured tight end Kyle Rudolph, he will travel a rough road. Last week, Bridgewater was sacked eight times and hit another 12. At that rate, an injury could cut his season short.
USA Today: 25th (Last week: 25th)
Poor Mike Zimmer really deserved a better fate after his long-awaited head coaching opportunity.
ESPN: 27th (Last week: 25th)
Teddy Bridgewater was sacked eight times, the second most in a game this season (Chad Henne 10 in Week 2). Buffalo's pass rush (sixth in sack percentage) won't be easier.
So, the Vikings' offensive line is horrible (which we knew), and it made things a hell of a lot harder than they need to be on a young quarterback. Hopefully, if the team can get that together at some point, they can get trending back in the right direction.