Adrian Peterson won't play Sunday in the Vikings' season finale against the Bears.
The 31-year-old Peterson may have played his final snap in Minnesota as he enters an offseason of uncertainty with a surgically repaired right knee and a groin injury he picked up in his Dec. 18 return from the September knee operation. Peterson played 12 snaps against the Colts and sat out last weekend, when the Vikings were eliminated from playoff contention in Green Bay.
Peterson did not practice this week, so Jerick McKinnon and Matt Asiata again will lead the Vikings' last-place rushing attack. They currently sit with the second-worst average (3.1 yards per carry) in franchise history.
"It improved throughout the season, but we never really got it going," McKinnon said. "There's been ups and downs this whole season, and I think us not being able to run the ball like we'd like to kind of hurt us."
A lackluster ground game has been a drag all season on the Vikings' 30th-ranked offense. Peterson, the NFL's reigning rushing champion, mustered only 1.6 yards per attempt on 31 carries before suffering a torn meniscus in his right knee in Week 2 against Green Bay.
Peterson, who turns 32 in March, is due a lofty, non-guaranteed $18 million next season in the final year of his contract.
Fusco set to return
Guard Brandon Fusco said he expects to return to the right side of the offensive line Sunday after sitting out the previous two games because of a concussion — his second brain injury this season.
Fusco took the blow while diving low at Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith on a screen play. He was upgraded to a full participant in Friday's practice.