Adrian Peterson Says Minnesota Vikings Can 'Win Everything' This Year

With public comments about playing 10 more seasons a year ago, to previous aspirations to rush for 2,500 yards in a season, lofty goals are nothing new for Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. In a recent conversation with Peter King of The MMQB, Peterson offered the following.

“We are going to have a good chance to win it this year—win everything,” he said. “Sit back and watch. Sit back and watch. You can be like, ‘I thought you guys were at least a couple of years away.’ Nope. You sit back and watch, this year.”

Peterson also backed off his previous assertion he would play until he’s 40 years old, saying this to King.

“I can, but will I? Honestly, I don’t think I will. Mentally, I don’t know. Once I get to 38, I don’t think I’ll have the same love of the game. Sometimes I get tired of training camp. I think I can endure five more [camps], but after that, I don’t know.”

Any long-suffering Vikings fan knows better than to expect a Super Bowl title, either this year or at any point. Peterson’s math is also a bit off, since he’s 31 now and five more training camps won’t put him at 38 years old, but the sentiment that he plans to play awhile longer is there.

Now on the wrong side of 30, history is not on Peterson’s side as he pursues historical rushing marks. His nearly season-long hiatus in 2014 allowed him to have another year of high-level productivity in 2015, but 2016 could be the beginning of a decline that I still think will come quickly. Peterson will be a key part of any success the Vikings have next season, but he should not be the focal point of the offense anymore.