SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No matter how many times Adrian Peterson imagined his return over the past year, this type of flop couldn’t have entered his mind very often.
Ten carries. Thirty-one yards. A 20-3 defeat so one-sided Peterson called it "embarrassing" for the Minnesota Vikings, who were outmuscled and outplayed at their own game Monday night by a San Francisco 49ers team that rode its own stud running back from start to finish.
So how does Peterson go about recovering from the disappointment of having the game he’d awaited through legal troubles and NFL banishment end up a nationally televised laugher?