How the national narrative on the Vikings has changed by going from 1-4 to 6-4

Oct. 8 was a low point in a Vikings' season that had the potential to only go lower from there.

The Vikings lost 27-20 to Kansas City that day, with star receiver Justin Jefferson departing the game late with a hamstring injury that would land him on injured reserve.

The game itself was another lesson in self-inflicted adversity, as turnovers and missed opportunities telling a familiar story in another loss to a good but very beatable team.

Worst of all, Taylor Swift hadn't even bothered to show up to see it all.

From there, it was just a few weeks until the trade deadline. Would the Vikings be in sell-off mode? It sure seemed likely. Most of the national narrative was split between dismantling all the Vikings' woes — a good example was this synopsis of the loss to Kansas City, which placed the Vikings' No. 25 in that week's power poll — and speculating about possible trades of Danielle Hunter or even Kirk Cousins.

That was barely a month ago. It's almost hard to remember things were so bad given how good they are right now — as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.

The Vikings started to change the narrative with a Monday night win over the 49ers, one that all but guaranteed they wouldn't be huge trade deadline sellers. But now they've survived the loss of Cousins, too, and are creating a new national narrative with a five-game winning streak.

Dobbs' underdog uprising is turning heads, including the suggestion that Dobbs — not Cousins or any other veteran QB — could end up being the biggest free agent prize at the position this offseason.

You'll be forgiven if you want to pump the brakes on that, but Dobbs' impact in seven quarters has been undeniable. More modest gains certainly feel appropriate: The Vikings are up to No. 14 in the ESPN Football Power Index and team DVOA.

And there were suggestions all along that a good team was lurking beneath all the mistakes. As CBS analyst Tony Romo said during that Kansas City loss, "When I watch these guys I'm like, 'They're better.' "They're more efficient on offense, they're more efficient on defense. They're more aggressive. They can beat a Kansas City-type team. ... (Last year), I never truly believed they were going to go into San Francisco or Philadelphia and win. ... This year, I can see it."

Of course, that was before the Vikings lost that game, or Jefferson for weeks, or Cousins for the season.

But maybe Romo was onto something that his national peers and the rest of us are now catching up to?

Here are four more things to know today:

*There will be more on Dobbs' day on Tuesday's podcast with Andrew Krammer helping break down the film — and Kevin O'Connell's comments about how much a mobile quarterback brings to the offense.

*Speaking of Cousins, we didn't hear from him on X (formerly Twitter) after Sunday's win (or in any of the days leading up to it). I'm sure these two wins have been exciting, but maybe a little bittersweet for a QB who was at the top of his game when he got hurt and is now watching Dobbs shine.

*It's OK to hate them for it on multiple levels, but this was Grade A trolling from the Dallas Stars after Sunday's 8-3 win over the Wild.

*The Wolves won at Golden State on Sunday, and nothing about the game felt weird or fluky. We have to prepare ourselves for the distinct possibility that the Wolves are flat-out good, and maybe even better than that.