Vikings Power Rankings: How far did Minnesota fall after Week 15?

Vikings power rankings heading into Week 16

Last week’s power rankings saw the Vikings tumble a bit, but not a lot. Their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t see them fall too far, but then again it didn’t put a nail in the coffin of Minnesota’s playoff hopes either.

This week is a bit different. After their loss to the Chicago Bears, now the Vikings are sitting quite far outside the playoff picture, and the team’s focus should be on the offseason and NFL Draft instead of the extremely slim chance they can slide in the backdoor of the postseason.

Here is where the NFL experts have Minnesota ranked heading into Week 16.

Bleacher Report

21st (↓1)

• “The Minnesota Vikings are done. Or to be completely accurate, they’re 97 percent done.” – B/R NFL Staff

USA Today Sports

19th (No change)

• “They’ve scored at least 23 points in six of their eight defeats – just not a stat you’d expect from a team coached by Mike Zimmer.” – USA Today’s Nate Davis

ESPN

18th (↓2)

• “The interior of the Vikings’ offensive line is where most of the team’s pass-protection issues lie, not with the tackles.” – ESPN’s Courtney Cronin

Sports Illustrated

17th (↓1)

• “The Vikings have been playing with fire all year, playing from behind. They got burned this time around.” – SI’s Albert Breer

Sporting News

17th (↓1)

• “Looks like they will be joining the 49ers and Eagles in missing out on a playoff return.” – Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer

NFL.com

20th (↓3)

• “The midseason resurgence is ancient history now.” – NFL.com’s Dan Hanzus

Yahoo Sports

16th (↓1)

• “The Vikings’ playoff hopes aren’t dead, but they’d need a miracle to get in after two straight losses.” – Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab

Pro Football Network

19th (↓4)

• “It was a very bad outing for Minnesota’s defense that allowed the Bears to run for 199 yards.” – Pro Football Network’s Matt Williamson

ProFootballTalk

16th (↓1)

• “When will ‘just good enough’ no longer be good enough for the Wilfs?” – ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio

CBS Sports

19th (no change)

• “All the changes and the moves to more of a younger team have caught up with them.” – CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco

Last week, the Vikings only slid a 10th of a spot after losing to the Bucs, landing them at an average placement of16.8. This loss to the Bears was not as kind as Minnesota dove 1.4 spots to an average of 18.2.

The most common place where experts ranked the Vikings last week was 15th. Interestingly enough, there wasn’t a single 15th place nod for Minnesota in the entirety of this week’s power rankings. Instead, the most popular spot this week was 19, down four spots from last week.

Finally, the range of spots where fans could find the Vikings stayed at six, but the high and the low each shifted down one spot. It went from between 15 and 20 last week to between 16 and 21, which is definitely a move in the wrong direction.