Minnesota Vikings in First Place?

After three weeks of the new NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings sit atop of the NFC North standings. Hypothetically the Vikings are better then Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears, because Packers beat the Bears, and San Fransisco 49ers beat both Packers, and Lions; and the Vikings beat the 49ers. So logically the Vikings are the best in North right?…Not really.

It would be an arguable case to make, but then again it is only week three, and this is football after all. It wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone if the Vikings go 0-13 for the rest of the season, but with the win over the 49ers on Sunday it gives the fans hope for the this season. I am not about to say let’s plan a championship parade for this season, but could the Vikings make the playoffs?

Christian Ponder has looked better then the defending MVP Aaron Rodgers so far. Also every week Adrian Peterson is becoming more, and more explosive. The real kicker is our defense. This Sunday or defense looked like the best defense in the league, but this is coming after back-to-back weeks of our defense giving up leads in the fourth quarter. So the real question is which defense will show up in the next 13 weeks.

The Vikings will have a tough match up this weekend when they face the Lions, who have the best wide receiver in the league in Calvin Johnson. But it must be a breath of fresh air with Ponder. Ponder is currently fifth in the NFL with 104.9 QBR rating, and is second in completion percentage with a 70.1. Also is one of a handful of starting quarterbacks who have not thrown an interception. But it will be hard for the Vikings to make the playoffs, but who knows.

I will end it with this, this is not the same Vikings team of last year. They stay in the game, their quarterback has taken a big stride this season, and their defense is starting to look like a defense. With low expectations coming into this season, you can make a case that this team has already reached those expectation, but only the sky is the limit now for these Vikings.