The Vikings continued to look pretty mediocre in many areas on Sunday. Brett Favre still doesn't look sharp. The offensive line continues to have troubling moments. Overall, Minnesota needed a preponderance of good fortune -- which always seems to happen against the Lions -- and some timely big plays to grab its first victory of the season. That said, the purple did muster up a must-have victory heading into the bye week. And aside from a defense that remains stout, the Vikings brought one other very optimistic element into their early-season break: the return of the old Adrian Peterson.

Welcome back, Adrian.

Peterson is a powerful "feel" runner. And as a viewer, you can sense when he is right and when he is off. Last year, for whatever reason -- the emergence of a passing game taking him off his rhythm, constant worries about his emerging fumbling problem, lingering health issues? -- Peterson often merely looked like a good running back instead of a great one. His season totals (almost 1,400 rushing yards, 18 TDs) suggested elite status, but eyeballs told a different story.

This year, the numbers and the dominance match. He is running as hard as we've seen since perhaps his rookie season, and he's as scary as he's been since sometime in 2008. It's that rare blend of being able to pop a long one at any moment (which he did beautifully yesterday), but also be able to turn what should be a 2-yard gain into a 4- or 5-yarder with sheer power and will. And, of course -- not to jinx it -- his ball security has been tremendous -- not even the hint of a fumble in 83 touches (70 carries, 13 receptions) so far.

We're not going to lie. Before Detroit botched that punt yesterday and swung momentum completely around, we had gross visions of a bad defeat, a lost season and -- in the back of our mind -- the thought that Ol' No. 4 might just leave for Mississippi at the bye and never come back. Now we're starting to think that if this defense can keep playing like this, Peterson can keep playing like this, and the passing game can find a little bit of magic during the bye ... then, well, despite this early-season hole and troubling signs, the Vikings can still be plenty dangerous as a contender over the long haul.