Minnesota Vikings Week 10 Power Rankings Roundup

This past week, the Minnesota Vikings got a well-deserved week off after getting off to a 6-2 start to their season and winning their past four games. But, even though they took a week off, did they manage to move anywhere in the Power Rankings?

Well, it’s the time of the week where we find out, as we take our spin around the internet and see exactly where the pundits have our favorite team in our weekly Power Rankings Roundup.

Associated Press: #5 (Last week: #5)

No Vikings-centric commentary about the Vikings from the AP this week.

MMQB, Sports Illustrated: #8 (Last week: #7)

No Vikings-centric commentary about the Vikings from MMQB this week.

SB Nation: #8 (Last week: #9)

No Vikings-centric commentary about the Vikings from SB Nation this week.

Chris Simms, Bleacher Report: #6 (Last week: #6)

The Minnesota Vikings defense is special. As is the case in Jacksonville, Minnesota can lean on its defense, play through it and win games. Of course, this was the case last year too. What's different about this year's version of the Vikings, though, is the offense is also playing like a quality unit.

The offensive line is better than it was a year ago, and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is finding ways to create big plays—regardless of who is at quarterback. When Stefon Diggs is healthy and able to play alongside Adam Thielen, the offense can be as explosive as any in football.

With No. 12 out in Green Bay, the Vikings are the clear favorites in the NFC North. If the Lions don't get back on track, the Vikings may run away with the division.

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: #6 (Last week: #8)

They come off their bye in control of the division, despite all the injuries. They face a tough road challenge at Washington against the Redskins this week.

ESPN: #4 (Last week: #5)

Preseason ranking: 17. Case Keenum has started the bulk of the games for the Vikings this season, and they've still jumped from middle of the pack to near the top in the rankings. Keenum deserves credit, but so does the defense, which has allowed the third-fewest points per game this season.

Elliot Harrison, NFL.com: #6 (Last week: #7)

Love that the Vikings are flying well under the radar. Let them sneak up on everybody. I covered this in the "Closing Arguments" segment during the "NFL Power Rankings" show, but who's going to topple this group in the NFC North? While we're at it, which team in the NFC can Minnesota NOT take down? "I'd like the number zero for $500, Alex." The defense has been balling out since, well, Day 1. Remember what they did to the Saints in Week 1? (New Orleans was held to 19 points and 344 yards, both season lows.) The Vikes haven't given up more than 17 points since the Twins were still in it.

Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: #5 (Last week: #6)

The schedule gets a lot harder, right now.

Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: #5 (Last week: #7)

The Vikings got some time to recover after steering their ship across the pond. They saw their cushion in the NFC North grow to a full two games, but they also know they already lost once to Detroit.

This week: at Washington, when Case meets Cousins

USA Today: #12 (Last week: #7)

How do they drop this far in bye week? Their schedule looks increasingly suspect, the best win when Sam Bradford helped beat Saints in Week 1.

Walter Cherepinsky, Walter Football: #10 (Last week: #10)

The Vikings desperately need Teddy Bridgewater back. They can beat the Browns and banged-up Ravens all they want, but I think the London game demonstrated Case Keenum's restrictions. The Vikings needed the Browns to melt down so they could pull away from Cleveland. If Keenum has to start a playoff game against a good defense, Minnesota won't score any points.

I wrote this last week, only to hear some bozo on NFL Network be asked, "Should the Vikings stick with Case Keenum when Teddy Bridgewater comes back?" His response? "Uhh... yeah, he's winning games!"

Ugh. Just ugh.

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: #9 (Last week: #8)

I’m surprised how often people have either discussed the possibility of Teddy Bridgewater starting or confirming that Case Keenum will start. This is really a debate? Keenum hasn’t been bad. Bridgewater hasn’t played since he hurt his knee in August of 2016 and we have no idea if that injury has had any long-term effect. It’s great that Bridgewater is apparently healthy enough to be the backup as soon as this week, and it’s a great story, but any notion that he can or should step into the starting job is weird.

Much like last week, we have a bit of a mixed bag as far as the movement of the Vikings is concerned. Three of the 12 outlets that we track moved the Vikings downward this week, including a seemingly ridiculous five-spot drop from the folks of USA Today. I don’t get that or their reasoning behind it, but hey. . .not my rankings. Six outlets did bump the Vikings up slightly, while three of them held them at exactly the same spot as they were last week.

The average rating for the Vikings from these 12 rankings is virtually unchanged. Last week, it averaged out to be 7.0833, while this week’s rankings average out to exactly 7.

Here is the visual representation of the Power Rankings Roundup for this week. Should you desire, you may click to embiggen.

That’s a look at the Power Rankings for the Minnesota Vikings for this week, ladies and gentlemen. With any luck, by this time next week we’ll be talking about a fifth straight victory for the Vikings and another bump up in these rankings.