Killing Time: Tom Powers > Mark Craig

Tom Powers > Mark Craig:
Mark Craig thinks Vikings' fans should be happy with the Vikings' 3-3 record and tie for first place. He's wrong. Yes, the Giants and Redskins all lost games they were favored to win. But unlike the Vikings, the Redskins and Giants have impressive victories. The Redskins first five games were all against quality teams (the Saints have the worst record, at 3-3), including a win against their biggest rival on the road, a win against the NFC West leaders and another road division win. The Giants dominated in their first four games (and won the Super Bowl last year--think Vikings' fans would care if they barely beat the Lions the year after winning the Super Bowl? Yeah, me neither). If the Vikings had been 4-1 coming into the game, having beaten the Packers and Colts, the fans wouldn't have been booing. But they weren't, and, as Tom Powers points out, the fans (and the owner, I'd bet), were promised a Super Bowl contender and Brad Childress has not delivered. This team hasn't shown it has the ability to be a Super Bowl contender and I'm not even sure they've shown that they're going to contend for the division. And I'm not sure that Brad Childress has shown in his tenure that he's a good enough coach to take a team to the playoffs.

Defensive Injuries:
The Bears' secondary is hurting badly. The Viking's linebacking corps isn't beat up, but that's because the Purple have brought back Dontarrius Thomas and Napolean Harris (Yes! The Randy Moss trade continues to pay off!!) to fill in for E.J. Henderson and his injured backup, Noah Herron. Guess which team is better equipped to take advantage of their opponent's injuries? I'll give you a hint--even with Matt Forte nursing a hamstring injury, it's not the Vikings (though, if the Purple could get Sidney Rice back, that might make a difference).

Power Rankings:
Even though they won and even though they are now tied for first place, the Vikings dropped even further in the Power Rankings, with an average ranking of 21. And it's not a surprise that they fell out of the top twenty either--a team that has not won a game impressively doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt after barely pulling out a win against the only win less team left in the NFL.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (20)
2. Foxsports.com (22)
3. ESPN.com (21)
4. CBSsportsline.com (22)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (20)

Power Rankings: Moving Up!

It's pretty simple--win and you move up in the power rankings. The Vikings won, so they moved up from, an average ranking of 20.8 to their current 17.8 ranking. Of course, they'd be higher, except Fox Sports inexplicably dropped them from 19 to 22 despite the Vikings' win. Yeah, I don't get that either.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (16)
2. Foxsports.com (22)
3. ESPN.com (19)
4. CBSsportsline.com (17)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (15)

Power Rankings: Still Depressed

Sorry for the lack of a post today on football. I'm still trying to get over the Twins' loss last night and thinking about the Vikings hasn't exactly cheered me up to much. Maybe a win over New Orleans will be enough to turn things around (please, please beat New Orleans so I can still dream about a playoff berth and a Giants/Steelers type run to a title). Anyway, the Vikings lost whatever ground they may have gained in Week 3 by losing to the Titans. They've now reached a new low in the Power Rankings, with an average ranking of 20.8.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (20)
2. Foxsports.com (19)
3. ESPN.com (21)
4. CBSsportsline.com (24)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (20)

Killing Time: Fallout from the End of the Tarvaris Revolution

Fallout from the end of the Tarvaris Revolution:

• Tarvaris' failure has shaken Brad Childress' confidence (and no, I don't think that's a bad thing--maybe it will lead to him reassessing his awful playcalling).
• Gonzo and Jason Winters are shocked that Childress would actually make the change after his hard headness this offseason.
• Cold, Hard Football Facts point out the large knife sticking out of Tarvaris' back.
• Player reactions.

Playcalling issues:
I still believe Tarvaris' development was hurt by his coaches. Would it have turned him into Jay Cutler? Probably not, but better coaching on fundamentals and better play calling could have been the difference between 0-2 and 2-0. The predictability of the Vikings' offensive game plan is pathetic, and not something that should be a problem for a third year head coach with an offensive background.

Advanced NFL Stats and Smart Football both have pieces on the negative effect of predictable playcalling.

Injuries:
Sydney Rice and Bernard Berrian are both battling injuries right now. Bryant McKinnie is still out for two more games. Tarvaris wasn't able to overcome his top two receivers being dinged up. Will Frerotte? (Probably not. Why couldn't the Vikings get a real backup quarterback?)

And that doesn't even factor in the injury to Madieu Williams, who might not have made the same mistakes rookie Tyrell Johnson has made that have lead to multiple deep completions.

And sadly, Visanthe Shiancoe is not injured, nor will he be on the inactive list.

Power Rankings:
After falling to 0-2, the Vikings continued to fall in the power rankings. They've dropped from just outside of the top ten to inside the top twenty and now, are outside of the top twenty with an average of 20.2. A win over the Panthers, who have an average rank of 7th, would certainly help the Vikings' move up, but don't expect them to get near their preseason ranking unless they go on a winning streak.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (19)
2. Foxsports.com (19)
3. ESPN.com (21)
4. CBSsportsline.com (22)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (20)

Sunday:
People are already talking about the Panthers as one of the best teams in the NFL, which is no surprise after going 2-0 against the Chargers and Bears. The interesting thing, is, according to Football Outsiders, the Vikings have a higher overall DVOA. The Panthers have higher DVOA on offense, but they're only ranked 15th, while the Vikings are 18th. Defensively, the Purple have played better, and are ranked 11th, with a -5.8% DVOA, while the Panthers have a positive DVOA (you want a negative DVOA defensively), and are 17th overall.

Then again, Steve Smith is going to be playing for the first time on Sunday, and he'll be fired up (his family is even going to be there). I fully expect him to torch Cedric Griffin like he did Fred Smoot, if Leslie Frazier makes the mistake of not keeping Antoine Winfield on Smith all game long.

Week One Power Rankings

The rankings don't look anywhere near as nice as they did a week ago, that's for sure. The Vikings average ranking dropped from 10.6 from 17.4, a huge drop. I guess that's what happens when you lose a game on National TV. A win over the Colts, who's average rank is 10.2, would go a long way toward getting the Vikings rankings back up.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (20)
2. Foxsports.com (16)
3. ESPN.com (16)
4. CBSsportsline.com (19)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (18)

Preseason Power Ranking

The day before the season kicks off is as good a time as any to start my weekly look at where the Vikings stand in the minds of the "experts". Obviously, it doesn't mean anything, but, what the heck, it's a way to pass the time. Once again, I'll be using advanced statistics (adding the five rankings together and then dividing them by five) to determine the average.

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (13)
2. Foxsports.com (12)
3. ESPN.com (11)
4. CBSsportsline.com (13)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (4)

The rankings usually come out on Wednesday, so the ranking will be updated every Wednesday afternoon or so. The Vikings are currently averaging out at 10.6, a marked improvement over last year's preseason ranking of 21.4. If you were wondering, only Dr. Z had the Vikes in the top ten, let alone the top five. There's a reason why I like Dr. Z.

Average Power Ranking

Something I've done over the past two years is track the Vikings average power ranking, by compiling the average of the various rankings on the bigger websites (I am alll about the statistics, that's for sure). I'll be doing it again this year, with the rankings from five different sites figuring into my advanced statistical calculation of adding them all together and dividing by five:

1. Cold, Hard Football Facts.com (25)
2. Foxsports.com (20)
3. ESPN.com (24)
4. CBSsportsline.com (20)
5. Dr. Z's rankings on CNNSI.com (18)

The rankings usually come out on Wednesday, so the ranking will be updated every Wednesday afternoon or so. The Vikings are currently averaging out at 21.4. If you were wondering, only Dr. Z had the Vikes in the top twenty. There's a reason why I like Dr. Z.