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The Minnesota Vikings are aiming to sneak into the NFC wild-card picture with a laste season surge, and head coach Leslie Frazier intends to do so by following the formula that helped his squad snag a 21-14 win over the Chicago Bears last Sunday. Namely, by relying on the running game, infusing a handful of play-action passes and bootlegs, and playing solid defense and dominating on special teams.
"That formula, you can win championships with."
Of late, and especially in the Vikings win last Sunday, that formula has had to adjust to make up for a struggling passing attack by leaning on the running game and a stingy defense.
Adrian Peterson paced the Vikings offense against the Bears, rushing for 154 and two touchdowns, taking the pressure off of quarterback Christian Ponder, who was only asked to throw 17 times in the win. Frazier is going to stick with what has worked, and doesn't intend to lean on the passing game any more than he has lately.
"I don't see us being that type of team," Frazier said. "That's not the team that we went to training camp saying that we wanted to be. We want to be able to run the ball effectively, stop the run, create turnovers, play tough hard-nosed defense and win in every phase on special teams. (Sunday) we saw kind of what we've talked about."
The Vikings (7-6) will put that formula to work again on Sunday when they head to St. Louis to take on the Rams at the Edward Jones Dome. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on FOX.