Their leading receiver and leading tackler are rookies. Their quarterback is 23. But the face of the Vikings franchise is a 30-year-old running back with a sense of urgency and word of warning to the whippersnappers who might take this year’s playoffs for granted.
Years go by in a blink, running back Adrian Peterson essentially is telling younger teammates this week. He arrived in 2007 and made the playoffs for the first time a year later. All these years later and he’s still stuck on one postseason win in four tries and more non-playoff seasons (five) than playoff seasons (four).