Vikings Get Embarrassing Treatment in Sporting News 2023 Power Rankings
Hopefully, Minnesota Vikings fans haven’t had enough of the “cheating” talk that has plagued the team in the final months of the 2022 season — because it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
The Kansas City Chiefs ended the 2022 season in glory by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in a thriller in Phoenix and winning the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl, 38-35.
Vikings are embarrassed in Sporting News 2023 Power Rankings
And because the NFL media never sleeps, power rankings after 2022 but before 2023 were dropped by various outlets the day after. Some iterations ranked the Vikings of 2023 as a top 12 team, while others were unconvinced.
Sporting News is not high on Vikings 2023’s trajectory, as evidenced by his rank 20 for Minnesota. That’s right, SN ranked teams like the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, etc. significantly higher than the Vikings and ranked Minnesota 13th.worst team next season.
Yes, this is for the same Vikings team that finished the 2022 season with a 13-4 record. SNs Vinnie Iyer Explained: “Everyone knows that last season the Vikings defied the stats and the odds to be a big winning team, resulting in their immediate playoff exposure. Their defense rebuild is still ongoing and could get time to move off the bottom of Kirk Cousins and move up to bolster Justin Jefferson and the rest of their offense.
Most of the Vikings’ shine was tarnished by an early elimination from the playoffs courtesy of the New York Giants. Minnesota won the NFC North for the first time since 2017, had an 11-0 regular-season record in one-score games, and then flopped at home to the Giants — who weren’t a very impressive team. Philadelphia thoroughly defeated New York a week after their triumph at US Bank Stadium.
Vikings fans should get used to this ‘they’re not very good’ attitude around the club. Minnesota became the first team in NFL history to win 13 games in a season while maintaining an inverted point difference. Even with 13 wins and only four losses, the opponents cumulatively outstripped the Vikings by three points.
Over the next seven months, that statistic will have NFL talking heads picking Minnesota as a trending “regression” candidate. The theory is that Kevin O’Connell’s team has massively outperformed in his first year as head coach and that the bottom could be reached in 2023. This narration will be widely shared, so now is a good time to prepare for it.
The Vikings are also playing for first place next fall. In 2022, they faced a somewhat easy schedule, including nine home games, seven real road games and a neutral side showdown across the pond in London. The script for next year will be flipped, and Minnesota will play eight home games and nine away games, plus a list of first-place opponents.
Minnesota has +5000 odds of winning Super Bowl LVIII, the same odds as the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers without Tom Brady.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday Raun saw And Sal spice. His obsession with Vikings dates back to 1996. Listed Guilty Pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.