Is anyone still holding onto the idea that Adrian Peterson is the same running back that he was in 2012? If you're a Vikings fan and believe that, you're dreaming.
Nobody wants to say it. Everybody wants to blame Peterson's dropoff on poor quarterback play (mostly from Christian Ponder) or a decline in performance from the offensive line.
Ponder's play was subpar for a large hunk of last season. The offensive line has been the same group as in 2012, until a recent spat of injuries.
Ponder's inability to make opposing defenses pay for eight-man fronts in 2013 hasn't been all that much different than his inability to make opposing defenses pay for eight-man fronts in 2012.
You could make the excuse the Vikings were 6-4 at this point at year ago, and they are 2-8 after Sunday's embarrassment in Seattle, and that means they can't be feeding the ball and running strong with Peterson in fourth quarters.
Except, there have been four games -- the opening loss in Detroit, the late losses to Chicago, Cleveland and Dallas -- where a dominant fourth quarter from the MVP running back would have allowed the Vikings to come away with a victory.
Make all the excuses you want for Peterson. He's back to dancing at the hole as was the case in his most-ineffective moments during his first five seasons in the NFL.
I'm not saying there were long stretches when Peterson did that from 2007 through 2011, but there were those stretches, and they always made him less the monster than he was in the magnificent 2,097-yard season of 2012.