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Adrian Peterson returns to the NFL, Vikings forget he’s on team

By Luke Sims

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Adrian Peterson had all of 10 rushes while the Minnesota Vikings fell to the San Fransisco 49ers 20-3 on Monday night.

With one of the best running backs in the history of the NFL spending most of his time on the sideline, many people, myself included, are wondering just what’s going on with the Minnesota Vikings.

In Adrian Peterson’s 10 rushes, he accumulated just 31 yards as the Vikes’ offensive line was bullied by the 49ers defense all night. Still, his bruising running offered the best opportunity for the Vikings to get back on track.

Instead, the Vikings turned to second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater looked sharp all preseason long, but came out especially flat against the 49ers.

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Completing 23 of his 32 passes (71.9%), Bridgewater was about as accurate as expected. He amassed 231 yards and one interception in the process. Much of those completions and yards came with the game quickly getting out of reach, however.

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Bridgewater’s play and the play of the receivers was also particularly sloppy in the first half, when both teams struggled to find their footing.

With Bridgewater struggling, the receivers struggling, and the defense becoming a doormat for 49ers running back Carlos Hyde, the Vikings should have turned back to Adrian Peterson.

Those watching on TV expected it. The people in the stadium expected it. The fans expected it. Adrian Peterson probably expected it.

But offensive coordinator Norv Turner thought he was being clever by not turning to Adrian Peterson.

The Vikings decided in favor of 32 passes over just 17 rushes (including three from Bridgewater). With the offense fizzling out quickly with the passing game, the 49ers could afford to eat up clock and move the ball on the ground, which is something the Vikings should have been trying to do from the get-go.

Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata added a combined four carries for 24 yards. 15 of those came off one run by McKinnon.

As the rest of the NFL world wakes up on Monday, fans of both fantasy football and the Minnesota Vikings will turn to their phones, tablets, and computers and be dumbfounded. Many of us will hope it was nothing more than a bad dream. Others will be seeing it for the first time. Either way, it will seem like a nightmare.

The world was waiting for Adrian Peterson to explode in Week 1 all offseason and instead we were greeted with Norv Turner seemingly giving the star running back the cold shoulder.

Talk about disappointment.

Next: Teddy Bridgewater vs Colin Kaepernick

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