There's no relief in sight for the Minnesota Vikings. After dropping a couple close games in succession, they were beatdown soundly by the New Orleans Saints in their last outing. They couldn't have been expected to win the game by any stretch of the imagination, but the ease with which quarterback Drew Brees was able to shred the secondary was worrying for what was recently one of the NFL's top defenses. They allowed Brees to net his sixth game with five or more touchdowns, tying the most of any quarterback in league history. In short, they aren't going to be doing any rising in the weekly power rankings.

ESPN, predictably, has them right near the bottom in their Week 16 NFL power rankings:

30. It's hard to say what looks worse -- the offense or the secondary. (Clayton)    

That's the same spot where they were last week, though they are falling below that No. 30 in some of the weekly rankings. The only teams lower are the Indianapolis Colts and the St. Louis Rams, though Minnesota is still in the running for the first overall pick come draft time.