Oct 9, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.
Each week, VikingsTerritory catalogs the Minnesota Vikings placement in national power rankings. Eleven sources are vetted, detailed, and plopped here for reference.
The Vikings struggled on defense in Week 14, losing to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, 34-23. Quarterback Kirk Cousins played marvelously — his best game of 2022 — but it was not enough to circumvent Minnesota’s porous defense.
Minnesota has around 25:1 odds of winning the Super Bowl in 2022. Last week, those odds were 16:1, so the loss at Detroit dampened oddsmakers’ enthusiasm.
Per EPA/Play, the Vikings own the NFL’s 18th-best offense and 15th-best defense after Week 14. Those certainly aren’t the metrics a Super Bowl-contending team produces, but the Vikings have four weeks to improve.
[format = ranking entity: power ranking position (variation from last week)]
The national average of these totals is 7.4. The world believes the Vikings are about the NFL’s seventh-best team. Last week, Minnesota was around sixth.
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Vinnie Iyer from Sporting News wrote about the Vikings after the loss to Detroit, “The Vikings’ defensive woes have been lingering all season, and they showed up in a big way in an atypical non-close game in Detroit. They still should win the NFC North soon, but there’s less confidence they will make much noise in the playoffs beyond the wild-card round.”
Pete Prisco at CBS Sports mentioned, “The defense is a major problem for this group. It can’t stop the opposition, which puts so much pressure on its offense. At 10-3, are the Vikings good or not?”
The Vikings are four-point favorites to beat the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 15. The Colts are nearing mathematical elimination from the postseason. They had a bye in Week 14 and were spanked by the Dallas Cowboys, 54-19, in Week 13.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. 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).