The popularity of the Minnesota Vikings has taken a small step up in a poll just released from Harris Interactive polling.
The poll conducted between Sept. 10-17 found the Vikings finished 12th, up one spot after finishing 13th in 2013.
Denver was the most popular team, according to the poll. They were followed by the New York Giants. Green Bay, Dallas and Pittsburgh rounded out the top five. Super Bowl champion Seattle jumped up six spots up to sixth.
Dallas had been the NFL’s most popular team for six straight years, but fell all the way to fourth.
The Vikings are the third most popular team in the NFC North Division, according to the survey. Detroit, who jumped nine spots this year, is 13th.
The Vikings popularity was 14th in the first NFL Harris Poll conducted in 1998, but jumped to seventh after the team’s 15-1 season. It was a ranking they equaled in 2003.
The team had dropped as far as 21st in 2006, but rebounded to eighth in 2010 and ninth in 2011.
1500 ESPN notes the polling for this year’s survey began two days before Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on a felony child abuse charge.
But the survey notes despite the headlines around the NFL being on the off-the-field problems, the number of respondents who said they followed the NFL had actually increased – 55 percent of respondents said they followed the NFL, a one-percent increase over last year.
