It's always kind of odd when a team drops in the weekly power rankings coming off of a bye week. Actually, the weird part is when the explanation talks as though said team did something wrong during their bye week to make them drop, instead of offering up the fact that another team played well and simply had to pass them. ESPN has dropped the Minnesota Vikings a spot, and here's their explanation:
24. The Vikings' record on the field doesn't matter. Getting a new stadium does. (Clayton)
This is something Clayton has always done: he talks about things that aren't at all related to on the field and shouldn't have any bearing on where a team stands in the power rankings. In other words, it's a weak explanation instead of simply saying that the Vikings shouldn't have been at No. 23 in the first place or that another team needed to rise above them.
At the very least, the Vikings have looked much better with Christian Ponder starting and it's hard to imagine they're not a more dangerous team as Ponder gets more and more confident.