The Vikings clinched a playoff berth and bounced back from a poor performance in Arizona with a 30-10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

Antoine Winfield's return was a big story line. The Vikings managed fine while their Pro Bowl cornerback missed six games because of a right foot injury, but Sunday's game showed just how different they are when Winfield is on the field. Winfield finished with a team-high nine tackles, forced a fumble late in the first half that led to a field goal and brought a physical presence to the defense with his hard tackling. "I consider him one of the top 5 run defenders in all of football," quarterback Brett Favre said. "Not just this year, because I've played against him. Not only is he good against the pass, he's as valuable to our run stop defense as Kevin (Williams) and Pat (Williams.) The guy's outstanding." Said rookie safety Jamarca Sanford: "He puts fear in runners hearts. If you catch the ball, you know he's going to come up and hit you. He just brings energy to the defense and he's smart. He can recognize formations. Sometimes you might not see it and he'll turn around and tell you what's coming. Every other play, he'll say, 'Watch out for this play or he's going to run this route.' He does a great job of leading us. "With him out there, it's a totally different secondary. The energy that he brings and how he plays, it's just hard to coach that. He puts fear in runners heart when you see No. 26 coming up." Here are some other notes and quotes from the postgame: Peterson responds Adrian Peterson rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries and set a team record by rushing for his 14th touchdown this season. More important, he bounced back after being held to 19 yards rushing by the Arizona Cardinals last week -- the second-lowest rushing total of his career. "We knew it was going to be a physical game so we wanted to establish a run game and then hit them with some play action," Peterson said. The Vikings rushed for 142 yards against a Cincinnati team that was ranked No. 2 in the NFL in run defense (81.8 yards per game). The Vikings incorporated Peterson and Chester Taylor into the passing game. Favre targeted his two running backs a total of nine times and they combined for five catches for 72 yards. "We knew we were going to have opportunities with those linebackers in man coverage," Peterson said. "Some of those guys are kind of stiff so we just try and take advantage of those opportunities." Peterson looked particularly explosive on his 28-yard catch in the second quarter. Peterson, who has battled an ankle and foot injury lately, beat two defenders to the edge, prompting a question about whether he felt more burst Sunday. "Did it look like I was moving a little faster than normal?" he asked reporters. Told he did, Peterson replied, "I guess I have to watch it on tape." Disputed penalty The Vikings didn't agree with an unnecessary roughness penalty on cornerback Cedric Griffin against Chad Ochocinco in the fourth quarter. Griffin went high and knocked Ochocinco's helmet off on a pass breakup near the end zone. "It was definitely a clean hit," Griffin said. "I'm not really sure why they called it. Chad is an expressive player. He probably got in the face of the refs and the ref just called it. But great play by our defense." Said coach Brad Childress: "I thought Cedric's was a hell of an aggressive play. I don't think he led with his head. I think he led with his hands. I was shocked to see that call particularly because it was on third down and kept them on the field. That was a great drive on the ball." Ochocinco injured his nose but it was not broken. "I try to preserve my sexy and he messed up my nose, but it's all good," he said. "It's part of the game. When the helmet was coming off, the facemask just tapped it. That's all. But I still look good though." Animated discussion Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier had a heated discussion on the sideline before the start of the fourth quarter, but the Vikings downplayed it after the game with Allen calling it a "good football talk." "That's how Jared is wired," Childress said. "No offense taken either way. There's a little bit of heat, a little bit of hard meeting going on right there. It was part of football." Asked specifically what they were discussing, Childress said: "I think it was regarding a defensive call and what happened on the last defensive call. Jared is not afraid to share an opinion right or wrong or indifferent so that's about what he was doing at that point and time." Rookies start Rookies Jamarca Sanford and Jasper Brinkley made their first career starts and the two handled themselves pretty well. Sanford finished second on the team in tackles with six, while Brinkley collected three tackles and showed no hesitation in setting the defense from his middle linebacker spot. "I thought Jasper, I had an eyeball on him for a good part of the day," Childress said. "I thought he did a nice job of filling it up. Now he was playing downhill and I would say the same thing for Jamarca. Good instincts and made good adjustments." Neither player showed any sign of stage fright, although Brinkley said he battled some nerves early in the game. "After the first contact the nerves were gone," he said. "The first couple of series you're kind of on your toes. You really don't know what to expect." Sanford described his first NFL start as a "dream come true." "Starting in the NFL, I can't get no bigger than that," he said. All five draft choices from the 2009 class have now started at least one game -- Phil Loadholt (12), Percy Harvin (5), Asher Allen (1), Sanford (1) and Brinkley (1). Managing the game Favre completed 17 of 30 passes for 192 yards, his lowest passing total since Week 2 in Detroit. That meant Favre was back to managing the game, right? "You guys are going to spin it, I don't know," Favre said. "I knew it would be tough. [The Bengals] have a very good defense, very good." Childress was satisfied with Favre's performance. "I thought he did a good job," Childress said. "If this had been 13 weeks earlier you would say he's a game manager. Still not bad, though." Favre reached another milestone, becoming the first player in NFL history to reach 6,000 pass completions. He ended the game with 6,015 completions. Veteran move The Vikings faced a third-and-2 as the clock ticked toward the two-minute warning in the first half. The Vikings lined up for the play but looked like they might let the clock wind down. But John Sullivan snapped the ball at 2:01 and Favre kept it on a sneak for four yards. "I was the only one in the house who knew it," Favre said. "Actually there were three of us -- Sully and Hutch [left guard Steve Hutchinson]. I did get a kick out of it. It's been quite a while since I've rushed for a [first down]." Harvin sidelined Harvin did not play because of migraines and here is what Childress said about it after the game: "Yeah, and that's a thing that none of us have a great feel for. They are so wide ranging and people report different things. It's different for different people. As coaches you want to put it in a box. 'What is it? It's a fractured femur. Well, how long is that?' We will get up to speed as we go through next week and he will work as hard as anything. It kills him not to be out here. If there is one thing he loves to do, it's get on this field and compete and play. He's a tough guy but you can't out-tough through this. He's just in stinking too much pain." Etc. -- Sullivan came up limping in the second quarter, but he declined to talk about his injury other than to say he's fine. Sidney Rice also limped off the field after falling awkwardly on a deep throw, but he said he is OK. -- Pat Williams apparently thought the Bengals got too much pre-game respect: "We don't worry about them," he said. "To us, it's the same old Bengals. To ya'll, they're Super Bengals."