Minnesota Vikings Power Rankings Roundup: Week 5

On Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings took down the New York Giants to move their record to 4-0 and remain one of just three undefeated teams in the National Football League. This despite all of the injury issues the team has dealt with over the first four weeks of the season and playing some of the league’s more dynamic offenses.

One would assume that the purple and gold would continue moving up in the Power Rankings across the internet, and for the most part one would be correct. Let’s do a full look at things in this week’s Power Rankings Roundup.

SB Nation - #2 (Last week: #3)

No significant commentary about the Vikings in this week’s rankings.

Elliot Harrison, NFL.com - #2 (Last week: #3)

Much love for Sam Bradford going around. Announcers are all Keith Sweat in their affectionate tones toward the Vikings quarterback. It's deserved. The defense continues to cash every check the offense -- when it falters -- writes. Yet, above it all, this is Mike Zimmer's team. He is the face of the franchise, and his Vikes have his likeness stamped all over their performance. This is a gritty bunch of bad@#$es, don't you know?

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports - #4 (Last week: #4)

Where did that Cordarrelle Patterson five-catch game on Monday night come from? He had four catches in the Vikings’ previous 19 games combined, dating back to the start of last season.

Cameron DaSilva, Fox Sports - #2 (Last week: #3)

The Vikings are legit – there’s no way around it. At 4-0, the Vikings are one of three undefeated teams, but they’re by far the most surprising given their injuries. The defense shut down New York’s trio of receivers, while the offense gave them a comfortable lead to allow the pass rush to let loose.

USA Today - #3 (Last week: #3)

Aaron Rodgers. Cam Newton. Odell Beckham. None of them found a way to crack this Minnesota defense, which gets better every week.

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports - #2 (Last week: #3)

That defense is legit and Sam Bradford is playing good football. They have a Super Bowl look to them right now.

ESPN - #5 (Last week: #4)

+10: The Vikings are 4-0 for the first time since 2009, and they are doing it behind a combo of solid offense and defense. The Vikings have committed one turnover with 11 takeaways, good for an NFL-best plus-10 turnover differential.

Walter Cherepinsky, Walter Football - #1 (Last week: #2)

I've marked the Vikings as an underrated team all season, but that's not the case anymore because everyone saw how great they were on Monday Night Football. It's insane that they were favored by only half-a-point just prior to kickoff. Did the general public really think that Minnesota was only 0.5 points better than the mediocre Giants?

Chris Simms, Bleacher Report - #2 (Last week: #3)

The Minnesota Vikings aren't the NFL's most talented team.

They're easily its deepest one, though. They rolled seven or eight defensive linemen at Eli Manning on Monday Night Football. They had two quality Adrian Peterson understudies find the end zone. Trae Waynes and Cordarrelle Patterson—two first-round picks—come off the bench.

Mike Zimmer was forced to play two inexperienced tackles against a Giants front that gets after it. Could you tell? Sam Bradford didn't take a sack the entire game.

Chris Burke, SI.com - #2 (Last week: #3)

Mike Zimmer is a Coach of the Year favorite, and Xavier Rhodes is starting to join the Defensive Player of the Year fray. But the likeliest hardware winner in Minnesota right now is GM Rick Spielman, who has to be an Executive of the Year frontrunner. His fingerprints are all over Minnesota’s roster, and the Sam Bradford trade is working like a charm.

So, for the most part, the pundits feel that the Minnesota Vikings are now one of the three best teams in the National Football League. Everyone except for the long-time Viking haters at ESPN, who for some reason saw fit to actually drop this team one spot in their rankings. Honestly, I know I’m biased, but I simply don’t get how that works.

Here’s a look at the trend graph for this week. It appears that the ability to click to embiggen pictures like this one is back as well. So, we’ve got that going for us. . .which is nice.

That’s a look at the updated Power Rankings around the internet, ladies and gentlemen. The purple and gold are finally gaining a measure of respect, it would appear. We’ll see if the trend continues next week when the Vikings host the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium.