NFL Power Rankings, Week 10: Vikings Continue to Surge

After beating the Bears, the Vikings have won three straight games and are full of confidence.

It was an intense, physical, sloppy mess of a game, but all that matters is that the Vikings emerged victorious on Monday night. By picking up a rare win at Soldier Field, Minnesota has now won three straight games, all of them against divisional foes. They have the second-longest winning streak in the NFC (trailing the Saints, who have won six in a row) and are nearly back to .500 after a 1-5 start.

The Vikings have a ton of momentum and confidence right now. Their once-dead playoff odds are up to somewhere between 20 percent (according to Football Outsiders) and 37 percent (FiveThirtyEight). Mike Zimmer's team is playing well on both sides of the ball, and could start to really resemble a playoff team if they keep that up and clean up the mistakes on special teams. 

The Vikings now return home for three straight games against teams that have lost a combined 17 games in a row. However, they know they can't take anything for granted in this league and will have to play at a high level each week to continue winning.

Like we do every week, let's check in on the national power rankings and see where the Vikings fall. They ranked between 16th and 19th last week.

Albert Breer, SI.com: No. 17 (No change)

The Vikings have been hit with problem after problem, and they’re still square in the NFC playoff race.

Full power ranks here.

ESPN.com: No. 19 (Same spot)

What would they take back:

Trading for Yannick Ngakoue

The Vikings acquired the 25-year-old defensive end from Jacksonville with the thought that they'd eventually be able to pair him with Danielle Hunter. A neck injury Hunter sustained in camp that eventually required season-ending surgery precluded that from happening, and the Vikings cut bait on Ngakoue after six weeks, taking on $6.8 million in dead cap. What if the Vikings would have used their resources to instead acquire an experienced cornerback to help their young secondary? What if Minnesota signed a veteran interior offensive lineman? Would those moves have panned out better long term than paying for less than two months of work from Ngakoue? –

Courtney Cronin

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: No. 19 (Up 5 spots)

With three straight victories and a soft three-game stretch coming up, they have turned their season around. They have real playoff chances now.

Dan Hanzus, NFL.com: No. 16 (Up 4 spots)

It took 10 tries, but Kirk Cousins finally won a start on Monday Night Football. Perhaps that's why we saw the Vikings quarterback in such an excited state after his fourth-quarter completion to Kyle Rudolph helped seal the 19-13 win over the Bears. These guys don't live their lives in a bubble, and it's one less narrative that Cousins — ever the lightning rod — has to hear about. Mike Zimmer wasn't happy with his special teams converge unit on Monday, but he has to be feeling pretty good about just about everything else. The Vikings have won three straight and find themselves back in the NFC playoff race. Their 1-5 start feels like ancient history now.

Bleacher Report: No. 18 (Up 1 spot)

A few weeks ago, the Vikings were 1-5 and given up on by most. It's still going to be an uphill climb to get back to the postseason, but they are now 4-5 heading into a stretch of winnable games against the Cowboys, Panthers and Jaguars.

This is a Minnesota team that could be 7-5 when it travels to Tampa in Week 14.

Not that long ago, that appeared laughable.

Frank Schwab, Yahoo! Sports: No. 17 (Up 9 spots)

The Vikings might be better than the 3-5 record indicates. They have been better lately. And nobody has been hotter than Dalvin Cook. Maybe this is a team that gets on a roll in the second half of the season.

Nate Davis, USA Today: No. 18 (No change)

It wasn't pretty, but QB Kirk Cousins broke a nine-game losing streak on Monday Night Football, the longest for any player in MNF history, while also beating Chicago for the first time since he signed with Minnesota.

Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: No. 18 (Up 1 spot)

The Vikings can't do much about the results ahead of them in the NFC and the fact they don't get to play in the East to overcome a slow start. They just need to keep grinding and winning, focusing everything they do around Dalvin Cook.

Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk: No. 16 (Up 2 spots)

With the running game not what it's been, the defense and the passing game surprisingly stepped up.

Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest Vikings news and analysis. Also, click the follow button in the upper right-hand corner of this page (mobile users, tap the bell icon – you may have to click ‘News’ first), leave comments below, and follow me on Twitter.