As far as Power Rankings are concerned, the bye week might be the most interesting one, in my opinion. Since the Minnesota Vikings didn’t play this past week, it’s interesting to see how their perception among football pundits changes when their contemporaries are getting an opportunity to impress. Since the Vikings were no worse than #3 in any of the sets of Power Rankings we use for our roundup, you wouldn’t think they would drop that far after not having played.
But is that the case? Well, let’s take a spin around the internet in our Power Rankings Roundup for Week 7.
SB Nation: #1 (Last week: #1)
But [the Patriots] do have a loss, and until the undefeated Minnesota Vikings give reason to believe they’re not the best team, the No. 1 spot belongs to them. Lucky for them, a bye week gave no such reason, while the rest of the power rankings exploded.
Elliot Harrison, NFL.com: #1 (Last week: #1)
It was the bye week for the top-ranked Vikings, which means, for the first time in five weeks, we endure no change at our most prestigious spot. During the down time, tackle Jake Long got acquainted with his new club, while OC Norv Turner had an opportunity to work on kick-starting his run game. Unless I'm seeing it wrong, the only thing that could derail Minnesota is the thinness on the offensive line. But Jake Long alone cannot make America -- er, the Vikings' ground attack -- great again.
Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: #3 (Last week: #3)
Vikings fans might hate me for having them at No. 3, but we can agree on this: With Green Bay’s problems, the Vikings are the favorite in the NFC North.
Cameron DaSilva, Fox Sports: #1 (Last week: #1)
Coming off of a bye week, the Vikings remain No. 1 as they’ve showed no reason to supplant them from the top. They’ll be tested in the coming weeks against the Eagles and division-rival Bears and Lions, but they look like the best team in football.
USA Today: #2 (Last week: #2)
With three of next four on road coming out of bye, will league's worst rushing attack start to became a more noticeable hindrance?
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: #1 (Last week: #1)
They come out of their bye with a tough road game at Philadelphia against the Eagles. That will be special for Sam Bradford against the team that traded him to the Vikings.
ESPN: #2 (Last week: #1)
70.4: Sam Bradford was traded just before the season started, but that hasn't stopped him from developing an instant chemistry with his passing options. He has a 70.4 completion percentage this season, best in the NFL. Bradford takes on the team that traded him this week.
Walter Cherepinsky, Walter Football: #1 (Last week: #1)
I have to say that it was upsetting not having the Vikings playing this past weekend. I missed the feeling of having a free spread victory in my back pocket. Minnesota is an unbelievable 29-9 against the spread with Mike Zimmer, whom I would consider the best coach in the NFL right now if it weren't for Bill Belichick.
Chris Burke, SI.com: #1 (Last week: #1)
Of the seven previous Vikings squads to start a season 5–0, two made it to the Super Bowl and three others reached the NFC Championship Game. (We won’t talk about that Mike Tice 2003 team that finished 9–7 and missed the playoffs). The expectations for this year’s team, the league’s last undefeated in 2016, now sit at similar sky-high levels.
Chris Simms, Bleacher Report: #2 (Last week: #2)
The Vikings won't drop a single spot after their bye week.
They'll stay at No. 2 as my best team in the NFC, and they're not too far removed from the team in the No. 1 spot.
What can Sam Bradford do to inch closer? He can lead his new team into Philadelphia and beat his old one in Week 7. It should make for a fun affair.
Looking forward: Let's expand the game-flexing rules for all 17 weeks. I want to see the Sam Bradford Bowl under the lights. Don't you?
So, yes. . .after a week of the Vikings not being in action, nine of the ten sources that we use for our weekly roundup held the Vikings steady at where they were the previous week. The tenth one. . .the wonderful folks at ESPN. . .dropped the Vikings down one spot behind the New England Patriots. I don’t understand it, either, but it’s not my job to understand, I guess.
As a result, there isn’t a whole lot of change in our weekly graph for this week, but here it is. Once again, you may click to embiggen.
While it would be nice to see the Vikings at #1 in all of these rankings. . .and even nicer to see them in that position around the 6th of February or so. . .being a consensus Top Three team in the National Football League is a pretty damn good position to be in at this point, I think. Hopefully they will continue to prove themselves this coming Sunday in their battle with Philadelphia.