Vikings Inch Closer to Top 10 in Week 7 Power Rankings
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings evened their record to 3-3 in Week 6 after a typhoonish game at the Carolina Panthers last weekend. Kirk Cousins found second-year wideout K.J. Osborn in overtime for a walkoff touchdown, a moment reminiscent of Cousins’ theatrics in the 2019 NFC Wildcard Playoff game, albeit on a smaller scale.
As a result – somehow, someway – Minnesota limped into the NFC postseason picture, sitting at the #7 seed in the proverbial “if the playoffs started today” situation. If the NFL season shut down today for a strange reason, the Vikings would travel to Tampa Bay for a wildcard date with the 2020 champions.
Nationally, Minnesota is slowly commanding some respect, evidenced by this week’s NFL.com Power Rankings. The Vikings climbed a single spot, checking at #14. Dan Hanzus of NFL.com wrote about Mike Zimmer’s team:
“The Vikings have no idea how to play a normal game. For the second straight week, Mike Zimmer’s team blew a two-score lead in the final minutes against an inferior opponent, and for the second straight week, Minnesota managed to survive an epic near-collapse. Greg Joseph set off a celebration with a long field goal in Week 5; on Sunday, it was Kirk Cousins’ 27-yard dime to K.J. Osborn to seal a 34-28 overtime win over the Panthers. The Vikings are strange. They feel like a team that can beat anyone … or lose to anyone. As such, 3-3 feels about right heading into their bye. Minnesota is inconsistent, maddening … and intriguing.“
And that’s just the thing. The Vikings prove each week they are capable of beating the best team(s) in football – see Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals – or clumsily almost losing to the league’s worst – see Week 5 at home versus the Detroit Lions.
There is very little middle ground. And it’s odd.
Luckily for Minnesota, the defense is coagulating as sacks are flying into box scores, and the pass coverage is improving. Here’s some visual confirmation for what’s occurring in the secondary:
Too, this is why 2021 feels different than 2020 for quarterback pressure upfront:
If you’re looking for the trifecta, boy, do we have one for you.
Here’s the deal: The Vikings are sacking quarterbacks more than anyone else while settling in for pass coverage – and getting off the field on 3rd Down. It’s taken quite some time, but the Zimmer defense from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 is returning. A one-year hiatus occurred in 2020 when the team lost players like Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, and Michael Pierce to injury and COVID opt-out.
Finally, Minnesota’s offense arrived in Carolina – even though stretches of futility were still present. On the whole, though, the Vikings gained 571 yards versus the Panthers – the third-most ever by a Vikings team.
Perhaps the offense and defense are closer to blending in harmony, once and for all.
The Vikings are bedfellows in the Hanzus Power Rankings with the Cleveland Browns (#13) and Las Vegas Raiders (#15).
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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