Peterson Runs Wild: 296 Yards

It was an historic afternoon at the Metrodome yesterday as Adrian Peterson broke Jamal Lewis' record for rushing yards in a game as the Vikings (3-5) beat the San Diego Chargers, 35-17.

The focus of Sunday's football was the Patriots-Colts matchup in Indianapolis, but Peterson was the big story as he rushed for three touchdowns and an amazing 296 yards. The game was a showcase for two of the NFL's best running backs, Peterson and LaDainian Tomlinson.

But the Vikings number one-rated defense against the run shut Tomlinson down, as he had just 40 yards on 16 rushes. But Peterson's heroics wasn't the only history made. The game was tied at 7 as the half approached, and Ryan Longwell tried a 58-yard field goal that fell just short. The Chargers' Antonio Cromartie made a spectacular grab of the ball and caught it right at the back end line and brought it back 109 yards for a touchdown. It was not just the longest return of a missed field goal in NFL history, but the longest play in the history of the game.

But Peterson took off in the second half, and scored touchdowns on runs of 64 and 46 yards. The Vikings also lost Tarvaris Jackson in the second quarter due to a concussion and was replaced by Brooks Bollinger. But the game was The Adrian Peterson Show, as he broke Lewis' record of 295 yards on his last carry of the game, a three-yard run with just under 60 seconds to play. He also became the first running back in NFL history to have two 200-yard rushing games in the same season.

Peterson became the first back to rush for over 1,000 yards in 2007, and is now on pace to not only break Eric Dickerson's rookie rushing record, but Dickerson's all-time record of 2,105 yards. And he's done all of this in just his first eight NFL games.

I wonder what those six teams who passed on Peterson in last April's draft are thinking now.