I don’t think Adrian Peterson will ever have a game as bad as this one he had against the 49ers, stats wise at least. Adrian had 14 rushes for a total of 3 yards and a 0.2 yards per rush average. His longest run was 4 yards. The Niners were determined not to let Adrian beat them. You would think that game plan could beat the Vikes who showed little else offense wise other than Adrian the first half of the season. But Tavaris Jackson is starting to show he does have some game and the Vikings finished off San Francisco in an easy one 27 - 7.

The Vikings take on the Bears Monday night at the Metrodome and I think Adrian will be ready to rebound from this one. It will be interesting to see if the Bears take the same approach as t he Niners did. The Vikings beat the Bears in Chicago earlier this season in a fun one, 34 - 30. Adrian rushed for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns in that game plus a 9 yard reception.

So if the return of Daunte Culpepper is not enough for you to have some interest in this weekend’s Viking game, how about the return of Keith Millard? Keith is in his third year of being the Oakland Raiders defensive line coach and will be at the dome on Sunday to help his players chase down Tavaris Jackson. Yup, thats how low this game has sunk. In order to find anything of interest you have to look to former players, one a d-line coach and the other a washed up backup.

Last week the Raiders sacked the Chicago QB 3 times with one coming from Millard’s D line. This year Oakland is 22nd in sacks with 14, 29th against the run, 4th against the pass, and 20th in scoring giving up 21.6 per game. The Raiders have been without their best man for sacks for much of the season with Derrick Burgess being out weeks 1 -7. In his three games back he has two sacks and 4 tackles. I think its safe to say that even though the Raiders are low in sacks this year they are good against the pass and we will see another weak performance by Jackson in the passing category. The load will be on Chester Taylor this week.

Back in 1989 the Vikings led the league in sacks with 71 only behind the Bears 72 in 1984. Chris Doleman (21 sacks), Keith Millard (18 sacks) and Al Noga (11 sacks) were a force and Millard had a hell bent drive that was a fun to watch and one we don’t often see anymore. We can only dream what a pass rush like that could do for the Vike’s pass defense this year. For a little reminiscing on old number 75 in purple check out a bunch of old Keith Millard playing cards at Vikings Cards.

Today in the Vikings Monday press conference after yesterday’s embarrassing 34-0 loss to Green Bay Packers, Brad Childress informed the media that Adrian Peterson sustained an LCL injury to his right leg. Adrian has a partial tear to the LCL ligament. The injury is classified as a Grade 2+ injury out of 3, with a grade 3 being the worst possible in which the LCL would be completely torn.

The Adrian Peterson injury has been a roller coaster of thoughts for Viking Fans. Initially seeing Adrian go down I thought his knee was done with a complete ACL tear and he was done for the season. Then after seeing some replays where the hit was on the inside of the knee, his leg was not planted with a gruesome snap, he walked off the field, and hearing reports of Adrian moving on the sidelines and wanting to go back in, I thought maybe we got lucky with a bad bruise to the knee cap or something. Now today we find out it’s somewhere in the middle, Adrian has a partial tear and should be back in a few games.

A partial tear like this makes me nervous that it could be totally torn down the line. The LCL does not seem to be as critical as cruciate tear but when it happens to your super star that shows the promise of a Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, or Barry Sanders you can’t help but be bummin’. All we can hope for is that the tear was not too bad and Adrian gets enough time off to heal all the way. Looks like Eric Dickerson’s all time rushing record is safe this year, Eric’s rookie record might also be safe. I guess its really time to look forward to next year.

You can see video at NFL.com of Adrian Peterson’s catch and run where he injures his knee.

The knee and ligaments image is from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons web site. Be sure to check it out for more information on these kinds of knee injuries.

It would be nice if my most anticipated game of the year could at least be in Minnesota, but with our indoor Metrodump the game of the year is no doubt in Green Bay.  Out in the cold and on real grass, that’s how it is supposed to be and Lambeau Field is about as good as it gets. I’m glad the Vikes seem to get the second game of the Packers - Vikes match-up in Green Bay, the extra chill in the air makes it a little more fun.

Adrian Peterson has  given us folks in Minnesota some hope again and the excitement for this Packers game has increased for me more than one might expect with the Vikes at 3 and 5. The first meeting between the teams this year dealt a 23 -16 win to the Packers and Brett Favre grabbed the career touchdown passing record with numbers 421 and 422. The stats were pretty close in this one but Favre and the Pack were better than the numbers show. Adrian Peterson had 112 yards on a measly 12 rushes, 1 reception for 6 yards, and no touchdowns. I don’t think Adrian will be held to only 12 rushes any more this year but I will be surprised if he get the 30 touches he had last week. My guess is that its closer to 25 rushes with a couple more passes.

I hate to say it but I think the Pack has the upper hand on this one and will win another close one. But if one thing is for sure the game will be close and if Adrian Peterson has his way he might show the fans in Green Bay what they have to look forward to for the next ten years. Maybe he can throw one of his Ardrian Peterson Jerseys into the stands on the way out and convert a young Packers fan to the Purple side.

Go Vikes!

I don’t think we will mention this Detmer guy again here in Minni so I won’t try to get clever. The Vikes picked up veteran QB Koy Detmer who spent 8 seasons or so in Philly backing up Donovan and co. The Vikings need a back up answer in case Jackson’s head has not cleared up and Bollinger would happen to go down on Sunday. Holcomb’s neck injury did not look pretty and I would guess he still should be out. Chances are we won’t see more than one shot of Detmer on the sidelines the whole year. If you want a photo of Koy  to go with this ground breaking story maybe you should try searching for “Koy Detmer” & clipboard ….