NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Biggest risers and fallers after Week 7
8. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are unbeaten no more, but it took the Detroit Lions literally every second to pull off a win.
The Vikings had a bye week in Week 6, so they were able to prep for a home matchup against the Detroit Lions for a couple of weeks. And despite the Lions smacking them in the mouth early on, the Vikings fought back and looked pretty darn good, even in defeat.
But there are no moral victories.
The Vikings were at least able to get Jared Goff to throw a few incomplete passes, am I right? Goff only had three incompletions on the day, but Minnesota’s attacking defense did get Goff to fumble a couple of times, and they recovered a David Montgomery fumble for a touchdown. And that was the key play in the game that put the Vikings up late, but the Lions had the ball last in a game where the team that had the ball last was probably going to win.
The Vikings shouldn’t hang their heads after this one, and they don’t really have any time to do so. They play in the best division in football with a short week to face the Rams in Week 8. But the Vikings could be sitting pretty nicely with games against the Rams, Colts, Jaguars, and Titans upcoming.
7. Washington Commanders
Even with Jayden Daniels going down early in the game due to an injury (which apparently, he is okay), the Washington Commanders just wiped the floor with the Carolina Panthers.
They got it done every which way, too.
We saw a defensive touchdown for the Commanders, a pick-six for Dante Fowler Jr. (one of Dan Quinn’s long-time “guys”). We saw Marcus Mariota come in and actually operate the offense really well, both as a runner and a passer. Mariota proved why he’s kind of the ideal backup quarterback for Jayden Daniels out there in Washington and made some really good throws as the Commanders kept on rolling.
Who had the Commanders looking like the most complete team in the NFC East at this point in the season? There doesn’t appear to be any sort of “fluke” going on here whatsoever. This team is legit. Let’s see if they can keep it up as the year progresses and the stakes get higher.