Minnesota Vikings Week 7 Power Rankings Review: Continuing to rise

The Minnesota Vikings are trying to climb back into contention and look like a playoff caliber team. However, the experts may not see them there quite yet.

With Week 6 of the 2018 NFL season in the books, there are some teams proving themselves to be among the NFL’s best while others are sinking to the bottom of their respective divisions and conferences. Where the Minnesota Vikings stand is still up for debate.

The Vikings have shown uneven performances this season, getting some big wins and some crushing losses while looking both great and horrible at times. Still, after earning back-to-back wins, Minnesota is starting to look like contenders again.

Let’s take a look at where the experts have the Minnesota Vikings ranked among NFL teams heading into Week 7 against the New York Jets!

Ranked 5th

• Bleacher Report – Consensus: “The Minnesota Vikings managed to avoid a repeat of the Buffalo debacle of a few weeks ago.” (Up 3 spots)
• NFL.com – Elliot Harrison: “the Vikes ran up and down the field, with 155 yards from Latavius Murray and 195 overall on just 32 carries.” (Up 4 spots)
• Sports Illustrated – MMQB staff: “It took six games to see any semblance of a rushing attack, and if that keeps up it could be an enormous complement to a potent passing game.” (Up 2 spots)
• Washington Post – Mark Maske: “The Vikings are showing signs of becoming the excellent team they were supposed to be all along.” (Up 4 spots)
• Yahoo Sports – Frank Schwab: “It says something about the depth of the Vikings that they can be without Dalvin Cook, and can plug in someone like Murray.” (Up 1 spot)

Minnesota Vikings

Ranked 6th

• Barstool Sports – Jeff Lowe: “They struggled a bit against the Cardinals, but it seems as though they are starting to put the pieces together and look like the team we expected to see in the preseason.” (Up 1 spot)
• Detroit Free Press – Kithmon F. Dozier: “Last game: defeated the Cardinals 27-17” (Up 3 spots)
• Sporting News – Vinnie Iyer: “The Vikings kept balling with Kirk Cousins and their defense, but it was a good development to get the rushing attack going without Dalvin Cook.” (Up 3 spots)

Ranked 7th

• SBNation – Rebecca Toback: “The next few weeks will be huge for the Vikings.” (Up 3 spots)

Ranked 8th

• CBS Sports – Pete Prisco: “With two consecutive victories, they have righted things. That loss to the Bills a few weeks ago looks weirder by the week.” (Up 5 spots)
• NBC Sports Bay Area – Scott Bair: “I see you out there Tay Train.” (No change)
• Pro Football Talk – Mike Florio: “Now that they’ve found their running game, the Vikings could be ready to make a run.” (Up 3 spots)

Ranked 9th

• USA Today – Nate Davis: “They scored their first rushing TDs of season Sunday … and we only just learned what we’d been missing with Kirk Cousins’ celebrations.” (Up 3 spots)

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Ranked 10th

• ESPN – Staff: “The Kirk Cousins-to-Adam Thielen connection has been a major reason for the Vikings’ success. Thielen leads the league with 58 receptions and 712 receiving yards.” (Up 1 spot)

Ranked 11th

• Business Insider – Tyler Lauletta: “After going undrafted in 2013, Thielen now is in the conversation as one of the best receivers in the league.” (Down 2 spots)

With the exception of Business Insider, most experts are starting to see the Vikings as contenders. They finally got a run game going and showed off some great offense as well on their way to a 3-2-1 record on the season so far.

How the Minnesota Vikings perform in Week 7 against the New York Jets should be a good sign of just how good the team really is, but more big tests are on the horizon as the climb back to the top of the division continues to be the goal for the purple and gold.