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Well, as you can imagine after taking the kind of butt kicking the Minnesota Vikings took on Thursday night, they're not moving up in anyone's Power Rankings this week. However, the drop isn't as large (in some cases) as you might expect. I think that Thursday night's game is going to be a significant outlier by the time this season is over and done with.
Here is the data for this week's Power Rankings.
| Average Ranking (Number of Rankings) | 24.5 (8) |
| Average Change from Last Week | -2.25 |
| Highest Ranking (Source) | 21 (Fox Sports) |
| Lowest Ranking (Source) | 26 (NFL.com) |
| Biggest Positive/Smallest Negative Change (Source) | +/-0 (SB Nation) |
| Largest Negative/Smallest Positive Change (Source) | -5 (Prisco/Kirwan) |
And your graphical representation, which you can always click to embiggen.
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So, what are they saying about the Vikings this week? Here's your full roundup.
SB Nation: 25th (Last week: 25th)
No team-specific commentary
Fox Sports: 21st (Last week: 19th)
Throw out this loss to the Packers from your memory because Christian Ponder is unlikely to start another game all season. However, you should be concerned with the lack of development from explosive second-year WR Cordarrelle Patterson.
USA Today: 25th (Last week: 23rd)
In case it wasn't completely obvious before why they hadn't picked up the fifth-year option for QB Christian Ponder ...
NFL.com: 26th (Last week: 25th)
Worked with a pretty well-known NFL Insider on Sirius XM Radio last Thursday night, and after watching a few hours of Christian Ponder football, all he could muster was, "He just needs to move on." Not sure if he was suggesting moving on from the Vikings for a fresh start, or just moving on from football altogether. There is no getting around how off some of those throws were. Good news for Vikes fans, though: Teddy Bridgewater returned to practice on Tuesday.
Yahoo! Shutdown Corner: 24th (Last week: 22nd)
With any luck, Minnesota won't have to start Christian Ponder again.
Pat Kirwan, CBS Sports: 25th (Last week: 20th)
Give Teddy Bridgewater some time to learn the NFL game. Don't be in a rush to judge or evaluate him and look to 2015. In the mean time, I recognize how hard it is to play without Adrian Peterson. That being said, the Vikings could make things miserable for the Lions this week.
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: 25th (Last week: 20th)
Teddy Bridgewater is back this week, and that's a good thing. They were lost without him against Green Bay.
ESPN: 25th (Last week: 24th)
Get well soon, Teddy. Christian Ponder was 11-of-23 with two interceptions on throws more than 5 yards downfield Thursday. Bridgewater was 9-of-14 for 176 yards on those throws against Atlanta in Week 4.
So, as it turns out, when you play on a short week on the road with your third-string quarterback, you're likely going to lose, but a lot of people are going to look at it like the fluke it is. Thank goodness for that.