Allen wins NFL award

Vikings defensive end Jared was nominated for a fan-voting award, but he has already been named the NFL Defensive Player of the Week by the league.

In addition to being nominated for the Sierra GMC Defensive Player of the Week, an award that is voted on by the fans at nfl.com/gmc, Vikings DE Jared Allen has been named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week by the NFL following his performance in the Vikings’ 34-14 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday night. Allen tied a career high with three sacks for 28 yards and recorded a season-high nine tackles. Once of those tackles came when he tracked down running back Matt Forte from the behind and shared a tackle with Pat Williams on a fourth-down goal-line play for no gain.

The Vikings scored a 99-yard touchdown on a pass to Bernard Berrian on the next play.

Allen leads the team with 11 sacks and 41 hurries this season. The fifth-year player has more sacks than any other player in the NFL since 2004 and ranks fourth in the NFC this season. He was also named AFC Defensive Player of the Week in 2005 as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs after a three-sack, two-fumble-recovery performance back then.

CB Antoine Winfield and RB Adrian Peterson were also named Players of the Week in October and November, respectively.