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.

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.

With an honor like this its hard for a fan not to think about what might have been. Instead of one Adrian Peterson jersey in Canton, it could easily have been two, and maybe even a third for season rushing records without Adrian’s knee injury. Adrian was quoted in USA Today saying “It’s not going to change, so no reason to hold your head down and pout about it”. He’s got a great attitude and if he can handle it so well fans should be able to do the same. Let Adrian heal and you can look forward to next years opportunities.

Even with Adrian’s injury, his jersey remains the number one seller at NFL Shop where they display a list of their current top five selling NFL jerseys.

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.

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!

Adrian didn’t make the SI cover after his NFL rushing record 296 yards against the Chargers, the Patriots linebackers got that honor after their big win against the Colts. But Adrian did a mention in the SI Notebook column and I would guess he is high on their list if he continues his ways.

So the question is, when is the next time Adrian will get on the cover of Sports Illustrated? My guess is he gets it after the Packers game. Do any of you Viking bloggers have an opinion?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Here’s a nice video of Adrian running through and by his opponents in his Sooner days.