"I really feel like with everything that went on I've still got to bring that ball in some way, somehow," Peterson said. "I don't have much to say about whether a call should have been made. I'll leave that up to everyone else to think what they want."

The play was a harbinger of things to come. Peterson didn't gain a single yard from scrimmage in the fourth quarter. He was used on a kickoff return for the first time this season but gained only 16 yards.

The only chance Peterson had on offense came on an incomplete pass. Two snaps later, Peterson inexplicably wasn't on the field as a Frerotte pass to wide receiver Sidney Rice fell incomplete on fourth-and-three.

Frerotte entered with a 5-2 record as Minnesota's starter but struggled to find a rhythm Sunday, especially when the Vikings were forced into becoming one-dimensional. Frerotte was sacked three times on his final nine passing attempts.

"It's not like we felt we played terrible in the first half but we gave them some opportunities," Barber said. "The second half was the way we like to play football. We came out of the locker room saying, ‘Put it on us.' We finished today. That was as important as anything in winning this game."

Not to mention bottling Peterson.

"The guy's tough to deal with," Barber said. "When you think you've got him down, he's still breaking tackles. There are not a lot of guys off the top of my head who are better than him. But we knew what our challenge was."

Consider it completed.