Minnesota Vikings Power Rankings Roundup: Week 13

Well, after a very disappointing loss in Week 11, the Minnesota Vikings came back with a thrilling win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 to get back to within one game of .500. Does the Vikings’ victory over a struggling Carolina team get them a boost in the Power Rankings around the internet?

It’s time to find out, as we’re ready for this week’s Power Rankings Roundup! There was a bit of a delay this week, but it really wasn’t our fault. . .a bunch of the outlets that we poll waited to do their Power Rankings for the week until after the Thanksgiving Night Sunday Night Tuesday Night Wednesday afternoon contest between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, so we had to wait for them.

Associated Press: #16 (Last week: #17)

No commentary from the AP this week, as per usual

The Athletic: #14 (Last week: #15)

Meeting expectations: Mike Zimmer is a tough one to classify. On one hand, many people (including yours truly) thought the Vikings could win the division this season. That’s not happening. But they haven’t been a disaster either. They’re 5-6 and one game out of a playoff berth. They had a bunch of roster turnover in the offseason and have suffered key injuries but just keep plugging away and have improved throughout the course of the year. Given their offseason approach, the Vikings knew they were engaging in a soft rebuild. Because of all those factors, I think Zimmer has done a fine job this season.

Dan Hanzus, NFL.com: #16 (Last week: #16)

The Vikings’ playoff hopes seemed to all but evaporate when Chad Beebe muffed a punt deep in Minnesota territory with 2:10 to play on Sunday. The Panthers had the ball and the lead after another self-inflicted wound for Minnesota in a day full of them. But the defense kept the damage to a field goal, setting the stage for one of Kirk Cousins’ greatest moments in purple. With no timeouts and playing without his favorite target in Adam Thielen, Cousins marched the Vikings 75 yards on seven plays, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown strike to — you guessed it — Chad Beebe. One missed Joey Slye field goal later, the Vikings had escaped with a 28-27 win. It wasn’t long ago that Cousins was on a Winston-esque 30/30 pace. Over the last month, he’s been one of the most productive quarterbacks in football.

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: #18 (Last week: #16)

Rallying to beat the Panthers might have saved their season. Their playoff hopes are still alive as Kirk Cousins continues to play well.

Reddit: #17 (Last week: #19)

Against all odds, the Vikings are still in the playoff hunt.

Bleacher Report: #16 (Last week: #19)

The Minnesota Vikings are clinging to faint playoff hopes in the NFC. However, a flawed performance against the Carolina Panthers at home after losing to a bad Dallas Cowboys team in Week 11 doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence that their mad scramble to sneak into the bottom of the NFC bracket will pay off.

But after allowing defensive touchdowns on back-to-back series to open the second half Sunday, the Vikings rallied, eking out a one-point win that got them back to a within a game of .500.

It hasn’t been pretty, but after a miserable 1-5 start, the Vikings have rallied to win four of their last five games. However, the Vikings are only 1-4 against teams with winning records, and they have two games remaining against such teams (trips to New Orleans and Tampa).

If they lose those games, the Vikings’ ceiling is an 8-8 record. That likely won’t be enough for a postseason berth, even if each conference gets eight playoff teams instead of seven.

Matt Williamson, Pro Football Network: #16 (Last week: #18)

In a crazy game, the Vikings got another win over Carolina to potentially stay in the hunt in the NFC playoffs. Special teams haunted Minnesota yet again in this game. The Vikings turned the ball over three times, and Carolina had two defensive scores.

But even without Adam Thielen, Kirk Cousins played his best when it mattered most. Minnesota has won four of their last five, with their only loss coming by three points against the Cowboys.

Danny Kelly, The Ringer: #17 (Last week: #19)

Nothing on the Vikings from The Ringer this week.

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: #16 (Last week: #18)

Justin Jefferson posted a 7-70-2 line and is up to 52-918-6 on the season despite the Vikings inexplicably barely playing him the first two weeks. If we redrafted the 2020 rookie class, where would Jefferson go? Top 10? Top 5?

ESPN: #18 (Last week: #19)

Most important game remaining: Week 14 at Tampa Bay

The easy answer would be “all of them” given the Vikings are the No. 8 team in the NFC and one game out of the final wild-card berth. Minnesota got this far after a 1-5 start by beating up on bad teams, with only one of the Vikings’ five victories coming against a team with a winning record (Week 8 at the Packers). A win on the road against 7-5 Tampa Bay is critical. In order to be taken seriously as a postseason contender, Minnesota needs to show it can defeat better competition. A win against the Bucs would up the Vikings’ playoff odds significantly.

Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: #15 (Last week: #18)

It’s better to be lucky than good. It’s ideal to be both.

MMQB, Sports Illustrated: #15 (Last week: #16)

It might be too little too late, but the Vikings deserve a lot of credit for their turnaround. They’ve looked a lot more like the team we saw win a playoff game in New Orleans last year, and that team sneaks into the top half of my rankings with a 5–6 mark.

Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: #17 (Last week: #19)

The Vikings got sloppy with the football twice and it nearly cost them against the Panthers. But their defense is starting to play better at the right time to keep them in contention, while their offense keeps showing good balance and explosiveness when not making mistakes.

Nate Davis, USA Today: #19 (Last week: #21)

WR Justin Jefferson’s remarkable season continues, the rookie now leading the league with 17 catches of at least 20 yards.

Well, the trend continues as expected. . .mostly. . .with a victory gaining the Vikings a little bit of a boost in the rankings. Of the 14 outlets that we survey here, 12 of them gave the Vikings a bump upwards in their rankings from where they were last week. One of them left the purple at the same spot, and one of them. . .you can figure out who. . .actually dropped the Vikings two spots this week. I don’t get that, either.

Overall, it comes out to a modest bump for the Vikings in their average ranking this week. The average heading into Week 13 is 16.43, about a spot and a half above last week’s average of 17.86.

We have once again put this into graphic form for your viewing pleasure. Should you desire, you can embiggen the picture for easier viewing by clicking on it.

That’s a look at your Power Rankings Roundup for the Minnesota Vikings for this week, folks. Hopefully the upward trend will continue as the Vikings conclude their three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon.