Fate of Peterson, playoffs may await Vikings this week

With the specter of the Adrian Peterson saga still looming over his team, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on Monday was simply shifting his focus from a frustrating loss to the Chicago Bears to this Sunday's must-win game against the Green Bay Packers, one of the hottest teams in the NFL.

But first, Zimmer obsessed over missed tackles on early third-down conversions by the Bears. He talked about how his rookie quarterback needed to find a balance between getting the ball out quickly and remaining patient in the pocket. He defended, at least a little bit, cornerback Josh Robinson after he was beaten for all three Chicago touchdowns. And he refused to use the malfunctioning game clocks as an excuse for the loss, saying the Bears beat his Vikings fair and square.

And now, with the season on the brink and Peterson remaining in limbo, Zimmer is trying to make sure his players are still thinking small picture.

"All we were trying to do is play the Bears, so all this week we're trying to do is play the Packers," Zimmer said.

One of the things that irritated Zimmer when he watched the tape from Sunday's loss was the running game. The Vikings rushed for 96 yards on 16 carries against the Bears, but 48 of those yards came on safety Andrew Sendejo's run on a fake punt. Another 23 came on a first-quarter run from running back Jerick McKinnon, who had only 15 yards on his seven other carries.

"I don't think we ran the ball well enough," Zimmer said. "They were running some zone blitzes to stop the running game some. The one long run that Jerick had was a zone blitz that we blocked very well and then a couple others we missed a block here or there."

Zimmer said the run- blitzing forced the Vikings to try to "hit some other areas," which meant Teddy Bridgewater ended up dropping back to pass on 32 of the team's 46 offensive plays.

Had Peterson's services been available, perhaps they would have stuck with the running game longer.

Alas, Peterson, who in a statement over the weekend accused the NFL of behaving "without fairness or accountability" while handling his disciplinary case, remained on the commissioner's exempt list as he waited for Monday's grievance hearing with the NFL, the NFLPA and arbitrator Shyam Das to determine whether he would be reinstated.

No ruling was announced Monday after the conference call, but it should happen quickly.

If Peterson is reinstated by the arbitrator, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is not obligated to consider his 10 paid weeks on the exempt list when deciding whether to suspend the running back. And ESPN reported Peterson will not get an in-person discipline meeting with Goodell before any discipline is decided because he passed on a meeting with the league Friday, arguing it didn't follow protocol.

If Peterson is indeed suspended — a ban for the final six games of the regular season is possible — an immediate appeal from the NFLPA on behalf of Peterson is expected.

The Vikings, meanwhile, continue to wait for a definite answer on Peterson's availability before revealing whether they will welcome him back to the locker room, which seems likely.

But Zimmer and the players, while anxiously waiting for a resolution one way or another, continue to keep their focus mostly on the next opponent on their schedule. This week it happens to be the 7-3 Packers, who for the first time in their history scored 50-plus points in consecutive games in victories over the Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles.

"We're obviously catching them at a bad time," defensive end Brian Robison said.

But is there ever a good time when Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is healthy?

In the Packers' 42-10 victory over the Vikings at Lambeau Field on Oct. 2, Rodgers threw three touchdown passes before Green Bay turned him into a handoff machine in the third quarter then eventually replaced him with backup Matt Flynn in the fourth.

Rodgers has thrown 16 touchdown passes, including six in a Week 10 victory over Chicago, in the five games since. With 28 touchdowns and only three interceptions, he leads the NFL with a 120.1 passer rating, nearly 13 points higher than the next quarterback on the list.

"Rodgers is like one of those three-point shooters. You get in a roll and you hit them from anywhere," Zimmer said. "That's kind of how he is right now."

At 4-6 and still missing their best offensive player in Peterson, the Vikings, who play their next three games at home, will likely have to win out to make the playoffs. Winning this next one may be the toughest challenge remaining.

"We've got to play this game like our backs are to the wall because really, truly our backs are to the wall," Robison said.