Undefeated Vikings get bizarre treatment in national power rankings

Despite a 2-0 start. Despite limiting the highest-scoring offense of Week 1 to just three points in Week 2. Despite doing that with a backup quarterback, the Vikings continue to be disrespected by some national media outlets.

Power rankings dropped across the national football media landscape on Tuesday, and while most have the Vikings rising in the rankings, there are still a couple of notable holdouts that haven’t bought into Minnesota as one of the best teams in the league, much less better than their NFC North rivals.

The Vikings are one of eight teams that still have an unblemished record after two weeks. However, the power rankings from NFL.com and Pro Football Focus are bewildering.

PFF has the Vikings at No. 16 in its power rankings. That puts them behind both teams they’ve beaten so far (Bears No. 10, Packers No. 14), as well as the Lions (No. 11). So, despite sitting atop the NFC North, the Vikings come in last in the division in PFF’s power rankings.

We probably shouldn’t be shocked. PFF is the same outlet that gave shockingly awful grades to Dallas Turner and Caleb Banks after Minnesota’s 9-3 win over Chicago.

PFF says its power rankings are “derived from the quality of each team as defined by Point Spread Team Ratings.” According to the analytics-derived power rankings, PFF is currently giving the Vikings a 59 percent chance to make the playoffs, which is behind only the Lions (61 percent) in the North. The Vikings also have the second-best “Average Wins” number in the North at 10.1, again behind only Detroit (10.3).