The Vikings weren't perfect Sunday against the Detroit Lions, but they played well enough to breathe a little easier after that stinker in San Francisco in the season opener.

The Vikings had a number of positives to take from a 23-16 victory in the home opener. Among them:

** The defense played more physical against the run after getting steamrolled by the 49ers. The Vikings front four had a much better showing in bottling up the run and making the Lions one-dimensional.

** The Vikings also created three turnovers and cleaned up a lot of the mistakes that doomed them in the opener.

** Adrian Peterson re-appeared in the offense after being mostly invisible in the first game. Peterson had 16 carries for 70 yards in the first half and went over 100 yards for the game. He had an eventful afternoon though. He lost one fumble and fumbled two more times. One was negated by a penalty and he recovered the other one.

Peterson also had a 49-yard catch and run in the first half that was set up when he botched a block in pass protection.