On “Thursday Night Football” a week ago, as the Vikings were enjoying a well-earned bye week while sitting atop the NFC at 5-0, analyst Kirk Herbstreit was dissecting the conference’s top teams with Prime Video play-by-play voice Al Michaels.
San Francisco, Herbstreit argued reasonably, should still be considered a team to beat in the NFC despite a sluggish start to the season. But then he kept talking and riled up the fan bases of two teams set for a showdown this weekend.
“But who else besides them?” Herbstreit said. “Dallas. Green Bay. Tampa.”
No mention of the Vikings or Lions, which made Herbstreit a trending topic/target on social media. It was just one person’s quick and casual accounting of the NFC race, and perhaps an unintentional oversight.
You could also read it this way, though: For as much as the Vikings (and to a lesser extent the Lions) have needed to prove themselves this season, there are still doubters out there who aren’t sold.
That’s one of many story lines that makes Sunday’s battle at U.S. Bank Stadium such an intriguing opportunity for the Vikings, as I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
The Lions are the reigning NFC North champs and came very close to reaching the Super Bowl a year ago. They are currently 4-1 — most recently seen thrashing the anointed Cowboys 47-9 — and perhaps more interestingly rated No. 1 in ESPN’s Football Power Index.
The Vikings? They’re No. 8 in that same metric, which uses several factors to account for a team’s strength. Minnesota has already defeated San Francisco (No. 4) and Green Bay (No. 6), two of those contending teams Herbstreit mentioned while snubbing the Vikings, in addition to Houston (No. 9) and the Jets (No. 11).
