Two years ago the San Francisco 49ers held Adrian Peterson to his worst day as a professional: 3 yards on 14 carries. With Tavaris Jackson QBing the VIkings, one would think that would be enough, right? Wrong. Obviously there were other factors involved, primarily 4 turnovers lost by the 49ers. However, along with that was the fact that Chester Taylor rushed for 101 yards on just 8 carries.
Now I realize there is a certain appeal to saying you've held Adrian Peterson to his worst game as a professional. However, what good is that if you can't shut down the other running back and subsequently lose 27-7? I'm certainly not saying that Taylor will run wild on Sunday, or even that Adrian Peterson will be shut down again.
However, it's important to not simply focus on shutting down Purple Jesus. Aside from AP and the addition of Favre, Percy Harvin is a legit threat for the Vikings in every facet of their offensive and return attack. Harvin has missed practices this week due to illness, and is now listed as questionable for the game. I'd imagine he's likely to play and the 49ers will gameplan based on him playing.
So I guess the question becomes how do you gameplan against these Vikings? Favre is obviously showing signs of age, so do you just key on Peterson and hope Taylor doesn't bust any long runs while your secondary hopefully can handle their business against Harvin, Berrian and Rice (Sidney, not Jerry!)? How would you D up against this Vikings squad?