If there was any doubt that the Vikings are one of the top five teams in the NFL, there should be none now.
Minnesota’s 24-7 victory over Los Angeles Sunday was a declarative victory; a ruthless deconstruction of a Rams team that touted its truly “kick-ass offense” and impressive ball-hawking defense heading into Week 11.
The Vikings are one of the best teams in the NFL. Period.
You wouldn’t know it if you checked ESPN.com. Or the league’s own website.
On ESPN’s home page this morning, Eagles-Cowboys got the top slot. Scroll down and you see Redskins-Saints, the NFL playoff picture, a look at the AFC West (a division which has no team better than 6-4, by the way) a preview of Atlanta-Seattle … no specific mention of an 8-2 Vikings team destroying the Cinderella Rams.
The dedicated ESPN NFL page isn’t much better.
The Vikings get a brief “the Vikes” mention in the round-up summary of the main story on The MMQB. And about seven stories down the page, there’s a feature about how Minnesota faces “a tough question” at quarterback again – not about their dominating performance.
On NFL.com the 2-8 Giants get a big graphic midway down the page, after beating the reeling 6-4 Chiefs.
How compelling.
The Vikings, meanwhile, are 8-2 without their presumptive starting QB heading into the season, and missing rookie phenom running back Dalvin Cook (who was one of the league leaders in rushing through three weeks).
Minnesota is in good position to vie for a bye week, equal with the Saints at 8-2 in the NFC and bested only by the 9-1 Eagles in terms of wins.
You can bet your entire Thanksgiving tater tot hotdish that if Sunday’s titanic matchup had been the 7-2 New York Vikings against the 7-2 Washington D.C. Rams, it’d be the biggest headline in the NFL Monday morning.
Case Keenum’s face would be plastered across ESPN’s home page, with shots of the defense pummeling Todd Gurley and Jared Goff right below, with a headline like: “Are the Vikings the best team in the NFL?”
Or maybe even: “The case for Keenum as the NFL’s MVP.”
But no.
The Vikings are in flyover country, a boring team with no big personalities that just show up, do their job, and go home with a win more often than not.
Nothing exciting worth talking about there, right national sports media?
