On Football Power Rankings

As a follow-up to C's football-related post, here is a quick complaint about sports journalism:

Every week I kill time by reading NFL "Power Rankings" on various sports websites. I'm sure you are all familiar with what these are.

For the last few weeks, the Colts have squeaked through with wins while the Vikings look dominant. The Colts are 10-0, the Vikings 9-1. Every power ranking I have looked at has the Colts #2 and the Vikings lower.

My complaint is this: the accompanying comment for the Colts is always something like, "That was a subpar performance; they have a lot of problems to fix or else they won't be undefeated much longer."

The accompanying comment for the Vikings is something like, "These guys are unstoppable. Another outstanding all-around performance. Nobody's playing better right now."

THE VIKINGS SHOULD BE RANKED ABOVE THE COLTS IN THESE POWER RANKINGS, IF THAT'S HOW THEY FEEL. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE POWER RANKINGS AND NOT STANDINGS. EVERY SPORTS JOURNALIST SORTS THE TEAMS BY RECORD FIRST FOR 90+% OF THEIR POWER RANKINGS. THIS IS NOT HOW THEY SHOULD WORK. I WOULD LOOK AT THE STANDINGS IF I WANTED TO KNOW WHICH TEAMS HAD GOOD RECORDS.

That's all.