Ugly Win, Ugly Drop: Vikings Fall in…

It sure wasn’t pretty but the Vikings squeaked out a 12-7 win over the Jaguars on Sunday to improve to 7-2 on the season. While a win is a win, national pundits have had mixed reactions to the narrow win over the hapless Jaguars.

Here are a collection of power rankings from across the NFL media landscape…

SI.com – No. 5 (Last week: No. 6)

The Vikings moved up in just one power ranking this week. SI bumped the Vikings back into top-5, moving up one spot from last week. Connor Orr noted the “razor thin” margin of error national talking heads are giving Sam Darnold this season, after he struggled against the Jaguars.

NFL.com – No. 6 (Last week: No. 6)

Minnesota stayed put in the league’s power rankings, holding onto their No. 6 spot. Eric Edholm called Darnold the Vikings’ “best shot” for success this season despite the recent downturn in form.

CBS Sports – No. 7 (Last week: No. 7)

The Vikings remained at No. 7 in CBS’ power rankings, with Pete Prisco saying Darnold “need to get back playing good football” as good teams will make Minnesota “pay” for the QBs bad performance.

FOX Sports – No. 8 (Last week: No. 6)

FOX was one of four power rankings that dropped the Vikings after their ugly win over the two-win Jaguars, dropping down two spots this week.

ESPN – No. 8 (Last week: No. 6)

Like FOX, the worldwide leader dropped the Vikings from six to eight this week. Kevin Seifert called Aaron Jones the Vikings’ non-QB MVP this season, saying “Jone’s impact on the offense has been enormous this season.”

The Athletic – No. 8 (Last week: No. 7)

Minnesota fell just one spot, to No. 8, in The Athletic’s power rankings this week after a game which they note the Sam Darnold “skeptics” have been waiting for.

PFT – No. 8 (Last week: No. 8)

Mike Florio has the Vikings staying put at No. 8, as he adds to the chorus of Darnold criticism, saying, “The more time Sam Darnold has to throw, the less accurate the throws seem to be.”

Yahoo! – No. 11 (Last week: No. 9)

Yahoo was the harshest of the compiled power rankings, dropping the Vikings out of the top-10 entirely after win on Sunday.

Division watch

The Lions completed a monster comeback despite a rare bad day for Jared Goff while the Bears were dismantled by the equally bad Patriots. The Packers were off, falling nominally in the average power rankings.

Below shows where NFC North teams rank in the compilation of power rankings. We’ve averaged out the rankings into one number for clarity.

Detroit Lions

Average ranking: No. 1.625 (Last week: No. 1.375)

Highest ranking: SI/NFL/Yahoo – No. 1

Lowest ranking: FOX/ESPN/The Athletic/ CBS/PFT – No. 2

Green Bay Packers

Average ranking: No. 8.375 (Last week: No. 7.625)

Highest ranking: The Athletic – No. 7

Lowest ranking: NFL/FOX/ESPN/PFT – No. 9

Chicago Bears

Average ranking: No. 20.75 (Last week: No. 18.5)

Highest ranking: SI – No. 18

Lowest ranking: The Athletic – No. 23