Vikings drop in a few power rankings despite winning seventh straight game

Minnesota rattled off a 30-12 win over the Bears on Monday night to improve to 12-2.

Dec 16, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings Winter Warrior helmet before the game against the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images / Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

It wasn't exactly pretty, but the Vikings managed their way to a 30-12 win over the Bears on Monday Night Football. With their playoff spot now officially secured and the races for the NFC North and No. 1 seed wide open, the final three weeks are shaping up to be incredibly tense.

Despite the win, the Vikings dropped a spot or two in a few of the national power rankings this week. Here's our weekly look at power ranks from across the NFL media landscape...

PFT - No. 4 (Last week: No. 4)

Mike Florio notes the Vikings have a chance at their first 15-win season since 1998. PFT, along with FOX, have the Vikings the highest among our gathered rankings.

FOX Sports - No. 4 (Last week: No. 5)

The Vikings jump up one spot in FOX's rankings, as they were "impressed by how nonchalant the Vikings' win over the Bears looked."

The Athletic - No. 5 (Last week: No. 3)

Unlike FOX, The Athletic wasn't impressed with the straightforward win, dropping the Vikings down two spots in their rankings — and back behind the 10-4 Packers.

SI.com - No. 5 (Last week: No: 4)

Minnesota dropped one spot in SI's rankings this week, with the Eagles jumping up from 6 to 2. SI noted elsewhere in their rankings that due to injuries, they have to "reconsider" the Lions being a sure-fire Super Bowl team.

CBS Sports - No. 5 (Last week: No. 4)

The last of the rankings to drop the Vikings was CBS, who also knocked Minnesota down a spot to No. 5, calling the win over the Bears "disjointed."

NFL.com - No. 5 (Last week: No. 5)

Minnesota stayed put at the No. 5 spot in the league's power rankings, with NFL.com crediting the defense with setting the tone in Monday night's win over Chicago.

Yahoo! - No. 5 (Last week: No. 5)

Yahoo! also has the Vikings staying put at No. 5 after hitting "cruise control" in their win over the Bears.

ESPN - No. 5 (Last week: No. 5)

ESPN says the play of Jordan Addison is the "biggest improvement" this season for the Vikings, as the star receiver has come up big in the team's current seven-game winning streak.

Division Watch

The Lions lost a shootout with the Bills while suffering three more season-ending injuries. It was Detroit's first loss in 11 weeks, which saw them drop out of holding the unanimous No. 1 spot. The Packers mostly maintained sitting at No. 6 in just about everybody's rankings, except for The Athletic which has them at No. 4. The Bears looked dysfunctional and bad as they recorded their eighth straight loss, which saw them drop a spot in the consensus rankings.

Below shows where NFC North teams rank in the compilation of power rankings. We averaged out the rankings into one number for clarity.

Detroit Lions

Average ranking: No. 3.5 (Last week: No. 1)
Highest ranking: The Athletic/SI/FOX/Yahoo/ESPN - No. 3
Lowest ranking: PFT - No. 5

Green Bay Packers

Average ranking: No. 5.75 (Last week: No. 6.75)
Highest ranking: The Athletic - No. 4
Lowest ranking: Quite literally everybody else - No. 6

Chicago Bears

Average ranking: No. 24.375 (Last week: No. 23.75)
Highest ranking: CBS - No. 23
Lowest ranking: The Athletic/SI/FOX/Yahoo - No. 25

Next up

Seattle Seahawks

Average ranking: No. 14.75
Highest ranking: The Athletic/PFT - No. 14
Lowest ranking: SI/CBS/NFL/FOX/Yahoo/ESPN - No. 15

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