The NFL said Wednesday that Adrian Peterson should have been flagged 15 yards for removing his helmet after his go-ahead touchdown run late in the 4th quarter. Had that happened, the Vikings would have been pushed back to their own 15 on the kickoff, which, all things being equal, would have placed the Packers at the Minnesota 44 instead of their own 41.

Assuming everything held true, Mason Crosby’s 52 yard try would have been good from 37 and the Packers would be sitting at 5-4 rather than Minnesota. Alas, the Vikings got bailed out … again (corny government joke goes here).

  • In their 3 point win over the Saints in Week 5 (MNF), the officials failed to flag the Vikings for a facemask on what proved to be a Reggie Bush lost fumble. They also deemed Adrian Peterson down by contact on a fumble in which he wasn’t actually down. The gaffes led to at least a three point swing, which means, at worse, the Saints and Vikings should have been playing for overtime.
  • In their two point win over the Lions in Week 6, the Officials handed 42 yards to the Vikings when Leigh Bodden was flagged for pass interference. Ryan Longwell kicked a game-winning 26 yard field goal soon after. Not to mention Dan Orlovsky ran out of bounds in the end zone. That two pointer could be considered the difference, though that’s not luck on the Vikings so much as shear stupidity on the Lions.
  • In their one point win over the Packers, Adrian Peterson avoids a 15 yard penalty. Mason Crosby’s 52 yard field goal try sails wide right - and would have been good from 37. I’ll concede that Mike McCarthy’s playcalling inside two minutes was atrocious, but I won’t concede that the Vikings aren’t lucky.

So what does this say about the preseason Super Bowl darlings? On one hand, they’ve played bad this year and have stayed afloat at 5-4. On the other hand, their remaining schedule is tough and Gus Frerotte is still the quarterback. They’re 1-3 against teams with winning records and have the following schedule:

@ Tampa Bay
@ Jacksonville
vs. Chicago
@ Detroit
@ Arizona
vs. Atlanta
vs. the Giants

It’s a tough sell, especially if Tom Coughlin starts his regulars in a “meaningless” Week 17 game for the Giants.