The National Media FINALLY Realizes the Vikings are a Force
Joe Johnson
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Out of the multitudes of writers that write for the purplePTSD Network, I’m easily the most emotionally attached to the team (at least in terms of how I write) and because of that, I am the most in tuned to and offended by how the national sports media covers my favorite team. On last week’s purpleJOURNAL Podcast I brought up the power rankings I read last week (which is something both Joe Oberle and Luke Braun typically groan about when I bring up power rankings because they’re subjective and worthless), I don’t remember which national site I was looking at but the Vikings were ranked 8th in the league (while the Rams were top 4), which was surprising but for reasons you probably don’t expect. While I believed that they should’ve been higher, I was surprised that they weren’t lower, as the Vikings are mostly invisible to most national writers/television programs, as is the state of Minnesota as a whole. Because of that, they essentially just threw the Vikings in the last spot for Division leaders because the only thing they know about the Purple and Gold is that they have Case Keenum at quarterback.
Now that the Vikings played the Rams, who were crowned as one of the best teams in the NFL by the same writers who were astounded that the Keenum lead Vikings dismantled the Rams, the national media has seen what this team can do and has been doing and realize that they may have been sleeping on the *Team Nickname Pending* (Deep Purple?). The Redskins game didn’t hurt, either, but the Rams game was the Vikings coming out game. Get a load of some of these headlines:
Vikings top Rams, have sights on Minnesota-hosted Super Bowl
Are the Vikings the NFC’s best team? The NFL on FOX crew reacts to Minnesota’s big win
Vikings’ defense ‘on fire’ after suffocating league’s top scoring attack
While I sound snarky, I’m actually super happy that they’re getting their due. Since Favre retired the Vikings have been the team whose games get mentioned right before the commercial break on NFL Network while the commenters struggle to feign knowledge of the current squad. I’ve been so desperate for some recognition (which brings more content for me to read/plagiarize) that I mainly wanted the Vikings to draft Johnny Manziel mostly because he’d bring a lot of attention to the Vikings (although that attention ended up being the wrong kind). While I also understand the value of a team being overlooked (bulletin board material) and that nothing scares me more than when the Vikings begin to get credit and expectations, I’m trying to make some changes (to my brains) and enjoy moments like this because this is really what being a Vikings fan is all about. So, like I said, it’s great to see the team get it’s due as they’ve overcome so much and are playing at a super high level because they’ve earned it and I am beginning to feel like we need to get used to this as we/they are on the precipice of something special. Let’s enjoy it.