The Minnesota Vikings are in a precarious position with their quarterbacks. On Sunday, with rookie signal caller Christian Ponder struggling, they decided to pull him in favor of Joe Webb, another young quarterback, who played very well in relief. If it weren't for a no-call on a clear facemask penalty at the end of the game, then the Vikings actually might have won the game and upset the Detroit Lions - potentially even playing spoiler for the playoffs. That being said, many are questioning their decision to not stick with the rookie and let him play. So they're falling in the weekly power rankings due to this indecision.
CBS Sports drops the Vikings one spot in their Week 15 NFL power rankings:
30. Christian Ponder had some rookie struggles against the Lions. That's going to happen. They need to let him play through those.
They're now in the bottom three, above only the win-less Indianapolis Colts and hapless St. Louis Rams in this week's rankings. But Pete Prisco may have a good point here, and the Vikings are almost assuredly better off going with Ponder in those kinds of situations.
It's been a rough season for the Minnesota Vikings. They're getting older on defense, star running back Adrian Peterson has been injured for a significant amount of time, they lost some good players in free agency and Donovan McNabb was really awful through the first five or six weeks of the season. Why the team placed their faith in him, nobody will ever know. Christian Ponder has been pretty good, but on Sunday, Joe Webb was even better. Still, he wasn't good enough to get Minnesota the win.
Fox Sports drops the Vikings in their Week 15 NFL power rankings:
28. The Vikings received a nice offensive boost when backup QB Joe Webb entered the game, but don't get down on rookie Christian Ponder just yet. Jared Allen added three more sacks to his league-leading 17 1/2 total, and now must average 1.6 per game to tie Michael Strahan's NFL record of 22 1/2 in a single season.
That's a two spot drop from last week's at No. 26. Brian Billick is right, here - the Vikings shouldn't give up on Ponder just because Webb had a good game. And yes - the most interesting thing by far will be whether or not Allen can break that sack record, it is, after all, a lost season.
Another week and another tough loss for the Minnesota Vikings. It's not a tough loss in the sense that it really changes their season - they're not competing for the NFC North or a wild card berth at this point - but it's a tough loss in the sense that the Vikings were once again competitive. After a game in which the Denver Broncos came from behind in the final minutes to seal the win, Minnesota wasn't able to hold off the Detroit Lions, who are definitely competing for a wildcard spot in the playoffs.
Unfortuantely, they lost, and ESPN keeps them at No. 30 in their Week 15 NFL power rankings:
The Vikings' pass defense has really gone from the Cover 2 to the Cover None. (Clayton)
Aside from the obviously hilarious tidbit from Clayton, it conveys an apt point. The Vikings defense, which was supposed to be the rock through quarterback woes and be serviceable through transition, is just not that good at the moment.
