Vikings disgustingly disrespected in recent 2021 power rankings
By Adam Patrick
NBC Sports’ Peter King currently has the Minnesota Vikings ranked as one of the bottom 10 teams in the NFL.
Of all the teams around the NFL that missed out on the 2020 postseason, the Minnesota Vikings seem like a great candidate to turn things around in 2021 and get back into the playoffs.
With tons of offensive playmakers like Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Irv Smith Jr., and Adam Thielen returning, the defense getting guys like Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, Anthony Barr, and Eric Kendricks back on the field combined with the new players that were added in free agency and this year’s NFL Draft like Dalvin Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson, and Christian Darrisaw, the Vikings feel like a team who should be able to contend for a postseason spot next season.
However, not everyone is optimistic about Minnesota improving their performance in 2021. Especially NBC Sports’ Peter King, who tore the Vikings apart in his recent NFL power rankings.
Peter King not impressed by the Minnesota Vikings heading into the 2021 season
On Monday, King released his weekly Football Morning in America article and the latest version features how he currently believes the NFL power rankings should look.
There are some surprises during the first few slots of the rankings, including him placing the San Francisco 49ers at No. 5 despite them only winning six games last season. But the biggest shock of King’s rankings came a little later on when he listed Minnesota at No. 24.
So, right now, King thinks that the Vikings are only better than eight teams in the NFL. Why is he not very high on Minnesota at this moment? Well, King attempted to explain.
"“The Vikings had won five of six entering the last quarter of their [2020] season and were 6-6, with their playoff fate in their hands. They proceeded to allow 37 points a game in those last four, spiraling out of the playoffs, fittingly, with a 52-33 holiday loss in New Orleans. Merry Christmas, coach Zimmer. I don’t think they did enough to turn the defense around in the offseason.”"
There’s quite a bit to unpack here. First, he’s acting like the Vikings’ defense just collapsed at the end of the 2020 campaign for no reason. Maybe it had a little something to with Minnesota not having Kendricks, Hunter, Barr, or Pierce on the field?
Thanks to injuries ravaging their defense, the Vikings had to turn to guys whose names sound like they were created by the computer in “NCAA Football 14” like Jordan Brailford, Chris Jones, Hardy Nickerson, and Cordrea Tankersley.
The 49ers dealt with a similar amount of injuries last season and King didn’t have a problem with giving them the benefit of the doubt in his rankings. So why didn’t Minnesota get the same treatment?
Secondly, King says he doesn’t think the Vikings did enough this offseason to fix the defense. Not sure how exactly he defines the word “enough”, but Minnesota pretty much invested all of their cap space this offseason into re-building their defense.
The Vikings signed seven free agents this year that were not with the team last season and all seven of them make their living on the defensive side of the ball. That’s right, all seven of them.
It’s fine that King doesn’t think Minnesota is going to be very good next season. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But his explanation for why he believes the Vikings will rank near the bottom of the league in 2021 just doesn’t make a ton of sense.