Adrian Peterson reached another milestone Thursday when he scored his 100th career touchdown.
Peterson became the 13th running back in NFL history to score 100 TDs, and he tied Hall of Famers Curtis Martin and Franco Harris for 21st all-time.
Peterson's score occurred on an impressive 9-yard carry on which he bulldozed through arm tackles into the end zone.
"I thought he ran the ball good. I thought he ran the ball with physicality. I though he ran hard," Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said. "They had everybody in the world up at the line of scrimmage, but this is the team we are. This is what we have to be."
Peterson finished with 23 carries for a net of 69 yards but lamented one that went for a loss of 6 and fumble. He was hit as he tried to pitch the ball to Mike Wallace on a reverse in the third quarter. Instead of moving closer to field goal range and the opportunity to break a 10-all tie after the break, the Cardinals capitalized with a drive that ended on a 42-yard TD reception by Michael Floyd.
"I hold myself accountable, just a bad decision by me to try to pitch it," Peterson said. "I could have held onto it and taken the loss."
It was one of three fumbles by the Vikings in the 23-20 loss to the heavily favored Cardinals. Arizona (11-2) won its seventh in a row, and Minnesota (8-5) remains in line for a Wild Card spot in the NFC Playoffs with three games to play.
Spreading the ball around: Teddy Bridgewater threw for a **career-high** 335 yards on 25-of-36 passing.
Bridgewater connected with 11 different players in dueling with Cardinals QB Carson Palmer, who spread his 25 completions to nine different players.
"We talk about getting completions and that's what he got tonight," Zimmer said. "He got a lot of completions and converted on third downs, which was big. Those were huge and part of it is we had to possess the ball because of where we were defensively tonight."
Bridgewater, however, lamented not getting rid of the ball sooner on the Vikings final offensive snap.
"I think our guys did a great job of competing, and we just have to clean some things up, eliminate some mistakes," Bridgewater said. "We'll be in a ball game like this again, and we're going to make sure we come out on top."
In all fairness to Palmer, however, he only targeted eight players but didn't mind when guard Mike Iupati caught a deflection batted into the air by Minnesota's Brian Robison and steamrolled forward for a gain of 10 to move the ball from the Arizona 49 to the Minnesota 41. The Cardinals gained 12 yards on six plays that followed, but it was enough for Chandler Catanzaro's game-winning 47-yard field goal.
"It was a great play by Brian. Just to see the quarterback with the quick drop," said linebacker Chad Greenway, who made the tackle of Iupati. "Just lucky, I mean not lucky, one of those plays that happens and it just bounced in the right direction. I think we had guys right there too. I just tried to make the tackle once he got going. It's what happens. It's football. It's why everyone loves it."
Notes: Kyle Rudolph led the Vikings with six catches for 57 yards, Rhett Ellison caught a short toss and rumbled a career-long 41 yards, and MyCole Pruitt added two receptions for 36 yards. … Cordarrelle Patterson averaged 31 yards per kick return. The Vikings made two goal-line stands, forcing the Cardinals to settle for field goals.
