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Vikings, Bears battle to get above .500

Oct 14, 2008 - 4:38 PM Minnesota (3-3) at Chicago (3-3), 1:00 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- In his last trip to "The Windy City," Adrian Peterson rushed for 224 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Minnesota Vikings to a wild win over the Chicago Bears.

Peterson returns to Chicago looking for a repeat performance Sunday when the Vikings and Bears meet in a NFC North Division battle.

Peterson's 224 yards set a franchise record and also was the most rushing yards against the Bears in their 89-year history.

After Chicago overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, Peterson returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards to set up Ryan Longwell's game-winning 55-yard field goal in Minnesota's 34-31 victory.

In the second matchup between the division rivals last year, the Bears' defense limited Peterson to just 78 yards on 20 carries. But he still managed a pair of touchdowns in the Vikings' 20-13 win.

This year, Minnesota and Chicago rank first and second in run defense in the NFC, allowing 73.7 and 74.3 yards per game, respectively. Neither team has allowed a 100-yard rusher this season.

The NFC North foes are coming off opposite results from last week, with the Vikings stealing a late win against the Detroit Lions on a late field goal and the Bears falling to the Atlanta Falcons on a field goal as time expired.

The Vikings trailed the winless Lions for much of the second half, but took advantage of a questionable pass interference call and emerged with a 12-10 victory when Longwell booted a 26-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining.

"We started off rough in the first half, but stuck with it," said Peterson, who finished with 111 yards on 25 carries. "We pulled through when we needed to."

The win catapulted Minnesota into a three-way tie atop the division standings. The Vikings join Chicago and the Green Bay Packers with identical 3-3 records.

Gus Frerotte has quarterbacked the Vikings to a 3-1 record since being injected into the starting lineup after an 0-2 start.

After taking a one-point edge in the final minute against the Falcons, the Bears were dealt a devastating 22-20 defeat courtesy of Jason Elam's 48-yard field goal as time expired.

Kyle Orton connected with Rashied Davis on 17-yard touchdown strike with 11 seconds left, but the Falcons returned a squib kick to their own 44-yard line. Rookie Matt Ryan found Michael Jenkins along the sideline for 26 yards and set the stage for Elam's dramatic kick with just one tick left on the clock.

"(It's) tough, very tough," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "I wish I had more words to show you how bad it really is. When you have setbacks like this, it hurts. We had victory in our grasp and couldn't pull it out."