The Minnesota Vikings lost their third straight game on Sunday, falling to the Buffalo Bills 17-16 and dropping to 2-5 on the season.
The loss also continued a recent trend for the Vikings as they slipped a little further in the weekly NFL power rankings.
FOX Sports, who last week still had the Vikings ranked 23rd, dropped Minnesota two spots this week.
“The Vikings defense – and their line more specifically – played just as Mike Zimmer drew it up in the preseason. Unfortunately, Teddy Bridgewater and the offense will go through some major growing pains this season.”
Bridgewater was sacked five more times against the Bills on Sunday, upping the two-week total to 13. Including the six times Christian Ponder was sacked against Green Bay brings the total to 19 sacks in three weeks.
NFL.com picked up on the Vikings struggles upfront as well, as they dropped Minnesota to 26th this week.
“Teddy Bridgewater could use one of those hot tubs they advertise on the History Channel at 3 a.m. Poor guy has taken a pounding the past two weeks, including in Sunday’s loss, during which Buffalo blitzed on over a third of his dropbacks. Truth be told, Minnesota is down to its last healthy group of guys up front. Next, the Vikings will be hitting up Medieval Times to find some linemen. Time for the guy who’s taken 13 sacks in the past nine days to get a little ol’ TLC.”
Three different publications have the Vikings ranked 27th, including ESPN, SB Nation and 247 Sports. ESPN looks squarely at Bridgewater’s struggles the last two weeks, when the rookie has thrown a total of five interceptions.
“After posting a Total QBR of 86 in his first career start, Teddy Bridgewater has a Total QBR of 6 in his past two games. That’s the lowest QBR in the NFL in that span.”
Despite dropping the Vikings from 24th to 25th this week, Yahoo! Shutdown Corner found a glimmer of hope for Vikings fans in the play of another rookie.
“A nice bright spot: Rookie Jerick McKinnon had 103 rushing yards against a good defense. That’s not going to make them forget losing a game with one second left, but it was nice.”
