Sports Illustrated Week 17 Power Rankings: Vikings Climb Once Again

After having given myself five or six hours to sleep off the hangover Pete Prisco gave me by forcing me to overdose on stupid, it’s time for a couple more sets of Power Rankings.

Don Banks. . .again, a favorite of mine (even though I really, really hope that Dr. Z. recovers enough one of these days to pick this up for SI again). . .was impressed by the Vikings on Tuesday night. After having Minnesota ranked at number 24 in last week’s Power Rankings, he’s jumped them up four notches this week to number 20.

Banks also throws some praise in the obvious direction, which is nice.

Well, well, well. Could the Vikings have found themselves a quarterback of the future in young Joe Webb? For a guy who Brad Childress drafted to play receiver, he certainly looked like a starting quarterback to me against the Eagles on Tuesday night. Then there’s that whole 199th overall draft slot 10 years after Tom Brady thing. That’s got to be worth some good karma.

We’ve talked about this a little bit already. . .but if Joe Webb isn’t “the man” going into Minnesota next season, he’s certainly earned himself the right to audition for the job. Nobody could have expected what we got on Tuesday night out of #14. . .now it’s time to see if he can carry that into this Sunday’s game against Detroit and into the off-season.

CBS Sports Week 17 NFL Power Rankings: Pete Prisco Is An Idiot

You know, I don’t ask for much from the people that put together these Power Rankings. Really, I don’t. The only thing that I ask of these folks is that they do something that at least kind of, sort of, makes a little bit of freaking sense.

Enter noted Viking hater Pete Prisco of CBS Sports, for whom logic is a four-letter word.

Take a guess at where the Vikings rank in Pete Prisco’s world after their 24-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday night. Go ahead, take a stab. Keep in mind, Prisco had them at number 25 in his rankings last week.

Pete Prisco was apparently so impressed that he decided the way to reward the Vikings for playing their best game of the 2010 season would be. . .to DROP THEM FIVE MORE SPOTS TO NUMBER 30 IN THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

Let me put this another way. . .Prisco punished the Vikings more for beating the Eagles by ten points in their house (as a two-touchdown underdog) with a rookie quarterback behind center (dropping them five spots) than he punished the Eagles for losing by ten points in their house (as a two-touchdown favorite) to a team with a rookie quarterback behind center (dropping them two spots from number 5 to number 7).

You know, I’m not even going to put Prisco’s commentary in here, because he’s clearly a moron that has absolutely no idea what in the blue hell he’s talking about. For the record, the only two teams that the Vikings rank ahead of in Prisco’s world are the Cleveland Browns and the Carolina Panthers. Let me give you some of the teams that Prisco has the Vikings ranked behind.

-The Cincinnati Bengals (number 29): The Vikings are a full two games better than the 4-11 Bengals.
-The Buffalo Bills (number 28): Another 4-11 team. . .one that the Vikings destroyed earlier in the season and spent this past Sunday getting crushed 34-3 by New England.
-The San Francisco 49ers (number 27): The Niners have a record of 5-10 and just fired their coach. Somehow better than Minnesota in Pete Prisco’s world.
-The Detroit Lions (number 26): Worse record than Minnesota (5-10). Lost to Minnesota earlier in the year.
-The Dallas Cowboys (number 25): See Detroit
-The Arizona Cardinals (number 24): See Detroit and Dallas
-The Denver Broncos (number 21): The Broncos are 4-11 and squeaked out a 24-23, come-from-behind victory at home over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Pete Prisco rewarded this by moving the Broncos up NINE FREAKING SPOTS to number 21 from number 30.

The stupid, it burns. It’s overwhelming. It’s amazing that this guy has a job that requires him to talk about football for any length of time for any reason.

My mind is completely blown by this. So much so that I’m going to have to sleep on this for a bit and resume adding Power Ranking updates in the morning.

The Minnesota Vikings are the third-worst team in the NFL. Sure they are. Idiot.

ESPN Week 17 NFL Power Rankings: The Four-Letter Actually Impressed With Minnesota

The upward trend continues as we move on to Bristol and take a look at what ESPN has to say. Their writers over there had Minnesota at number 24 in their Power Rankings last week, but have taken notice of the Vikings’ victory over the Eagles by moving them up five spots to number 19 in their rankings this week.

In their commentary, they provided the sort of in-depth, hard-hitting analysis that ESPN is known for.

The Vikings are undefeated on Tuesdays.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! See, it’s funny, because the NFL hadn’t played a Tuesday game in 64 years prior to this week. . .so long ago that, the last time it happened, there were no Minnesota Vikings. . .and the Vikings won, so obviously they’re undefeated on Tuesdays! It’s funny, yes?

No.

Would it have killed these folks to mention Joe Webb, Adrian Peterson, Antoine Winfield, or the fact that Michael Vick got his butt kicked for four quarters on Tuesday night in a manner unlike he had gotten it kicked all season? Apparently, it would have.

Week 17 NFL Power Rankings: Will A Big Win Equal A Big Jump For The Vikings?

Many folks, myself included, expected the Minnesota Vikings to drop ever further in the Power Rankings than they already sat this week after their game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The game was widely anticipated to be a blowout for Philadelphia on their way to potentially battling for a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs. However, the Vikings threw a wrench into those plans by playing what might have been the best game they've played all season and upsetting the Eagles, 24-14.

At least one group of folks has recognized the magnitude of the Vikings' upset, as the folks at the mothership at SB Nation have given the Vikings a significant bump in their Power Rankings this week. After having the Vikings listed at number 27 in last week's rankings, they've bumped them up six full spots in this week's rankings to number 21.

Their commentary touches on something that might be up for debate among the Viking faithful over the off-season.

Too bad the Vikings couldn't play all year like they did Tuesday night shutting down Michael Vick and the Eagles. Games like that are what make you think there's no reason to blow this thing up.

The Vikings aren't wholly untalented by any stretch of the imagination, and they may have even found themselves a quarterback on Tuesday night in young Joe Webb. They showed on Tuesday night that this off-season may be more of a patch-up job than a demolition project.

Will other Power Ranking gurus follow the lead of the folks at SB Nation? Let's find out.