NFL Power Rankings entering Week 8: Vikings are last undefeated team, but are they No. 1?

October 27, 2026 · by SPW Pipeline

One of the themes to this NFL season is a lack of permanence.

Every time a team starts to look good, they take a bad loss. Teams we thought would be fantastic this season are hanging around .500 or below it. The circle of trust is small through seven weeks. In that scope, what the Minnesota Vikings have done is impressive.

It’s not even Halloween and there’s just one team left without a loss. That’s the Vikings, who had the longest odds to win the NFC North coming into the season. Simply winning every game in this chaotic season is worth praise. It’s not like anyone else could do it.

Does that make the Vikings the best team in the NFL? That’s way more complicated. Oddsmakers aren’t convinced. Minnesota is tied for 10th in Super Bowl odds at BetMGM. DVOA isn’t convinced. The Vikings are ranked sixth there. Part of that is the Vikings have played the third-easiest schedule in the NFL, according to DVOA. Their future schedule is the fifth-toughest.

The reason for any skepticism is obvious: The Vikings’ offense isn’t very good. Minnesota is 29th in EPA (expected points added) per play, 30th in offensive DVOA, 29th in yards gained and 29th in passing yards. Against a bad Colts defense Sunday, the Vikings’ offense was as healthy as it has been all season. The Vikings had six points through three quarters until they rallied for 10 points in the fourth quarter to win. The Vikings have failed to surpass 275 yards in four of six games. They’ve scored more than 23 points only once this season. Kyler Murray was a bargain addition at quarterback this offseason after the lowly Cardinals cut him, and the Vikings are getting what they’re paying for.

Minnesota has a championship level defense and Seattle is the only other team with a decent argument for a better group. But the Vikings don’t have the balance of other elite NFL teams. The 49ers were clearly the most impressive team in the NFL coming into Week 7, and the only difference in Week 7 was that San Francisco had a bunch of injuries for a tricky early start at Atlanta and lost, while the Vikings had an easy matchup against the Colts at home and barely won. Those results don’t make the Vikings suddenly better than the 49ers, or the best team in the league. They aren’t yet. It just means Minnesota is the last undefeated team.

There’s still time for the Vikings to prove without a question they are the best team in the NFL, with a stellar defense and perhaps an offense that will improve. But they’re not there yet. However, they are the only team without a loss, and that’s all that will really matter in Minnesota for now.

Minnesota Vikings cornerback James Pierre celebrates the Vikings improving to 6-0 this season. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)AP Photo/Stacy Bengs

Here are the NFL power rankings after Week 7 of the NFL season:

32. Los Angeles Chargers (0-6, LW: 31)

The Chargers are the last winless team in the NFL, which nobody saw coming two months ago. And

Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.

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