The St. Louis Rams knew what was coming. The Minnesota Vikings didn’t even try to disguise it.

Running back Adrian Peterson kept his 8-6 Vikings in the NFC wild-card conversation Sunday with an otherworldly afternoon that brought him ever closer to the NFL single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984. Look to this Super Bowl betting site to make a quick wager or Peterson, his Vikings, or any playoff bound teams!

Peterson blasted through the Rams for 212 yards on 24 carries, giving him 1,812 yards on the season and leaving the All-Pro 293 shy of Dickerson’s mark of 2,105. A tall order for mortals with just two games remaining, but it’s entirely possible for Peterson.

“Yeah, it’s been in my sights,” Peterson said of Dickerson’s record, via The Associated Press. “I’m not focusing on it. It’s in the back of my head that, hey I definitely want to accomplish that. I look at today’s game, and I could have had 300 (yards).”

Peterson hasn’t been held to under 100 yards since Week 6. He has topped 150 yards in six of his eight games since, and he has rushed for more yardage than Vikings quarterback Christian Ponderhas thrown for during that span.

Let’s not ignore the Vikings’ defense, which pressured Rams quarterbackSam Bradford and drew killer holding penalties throughout Minnesota’s 36-22 win. The Vikings continue to confuse opponents with multiple fronts, but this is Peterson’s team. Always has been. The Vikings will go where he takes them — and Peterson has taken them farther than anyone expected in 2012.

The history books could be next.

The Green Bay Packers couldn’t have asked for more from their Sunday trip to Soldier Field. They won their game, clinched the NFC North and — as an added bonus — sent the Chicago Bears deeper into another late-season tailspin.

Aaron Rodgers hooked up with James Jones on three touchdown passes in the Packers’ 21-13 win, but this game was about a Green Bay defense that tightened on its own end and a Chicago offense that’s at a loss for how to move the ball on plays not involvingBrandon Marshall.

The Packers now have won 12 consecutive games against NFC North foes. The Bears have lost six in a row to the Packers.

The Packers move to 10-4 and will wake up Monday as the NFC’s No. 3 seed since the San Francisco 49ers escaped Foxborough with a 41-34 victory over the New England Patriots. With favorable matchups looming against the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings, the Packers still could earn a first-round bye, but they’d also need the 49ers, who are 10-3-1, to slip.

As for the 8-6 Bears? It’s hard to know what to expect at this point. They’ve lost six of their last seven games and — unlike last season — there’s no excuse to lean on with Jay Cutler healthy.

Once 7-1, the Bears now need help to make the playoffs. This loss could have long-term effects on the franchise, specifically coach Lovie Smith.

Sunday night had bled into morning by the time the 49ers walked off Gillette Field as winners over the Patriots. Back home Monday afternoon, coach Jim Harbaugh had to keep clearing his throat at his news conference – and he wasn’t on the defense that played a whopping 94 snaps in the 49ers’ 41-34 win at New England.

Linebackers Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman, and safeties Dashon Goldson andDonte Whitner, were listed as being in for all 94 plays – 33 percent more than the defense averaged in 13 previous games.

Cornerback Carlos Rogers logged all but one, and corner Tarell Brown all but three, as the 49ers withstood a second-half flurry by the Patriots.

With that in mind, and the promise of another physical matchup when the 49ers play the Seahawks next Sunday in Seattle with a chance to wrap up the NFC West, the NFL’s No. 1 defense in points allowed may have a lighter workload in practice this week, Harbaugh said.

“It affected us during the game, especially the amount of plays and the tempo with which they were running their offense,” Harbaugh said. “It was tough playing in that stretch for our defense, but I’m very proud of the character of the team.

“It felt like both teams wanted to prove they were the better team,” he said. “You look at the hitting that went on during the entire course of the game … both teams really wanted it, to show that they were the better team.

“It was a great game.”

The 49ers secured a playoff berth by beating the Patriots and hold a 1 1/2-game lead over the Seahawks in the West with two games to play. San Francisco currently is in position for a No. 2 playoff seed, which comes with a first-round bye.

At least one player likened the Patriots game to a playoff environment, and Harbaugh said he expects a similarly charged atmosphere when the 49ers play in prime time – again – in Seattle.

Coaches began studying the Seahawks on the plane ride home, Harbaugh said.

Still unclear is the status of defensive end Justin Smith, who left Sunday’s game with an elbow injury in the third quarter. Smith had an MRI on Monday. Harbaugh did not share the results, though he indicated he doesn’t think Smith suffered a long-term injury.

“But it’s really going to be how he is today, tomorrow, Wednesday, before we know anything,” Harbaugh said. Smith has played in 188 consecutive games.

Smith, who anchors the 49ers’ defensive line, departed just as the Patriots were starting to turn a 28-point deficit into a 31-31 tie.

Harbaugh said the timing likely was not entirely coincidental. But he stopped short of naming Smith’s absence as the root cause of the Patriots scoring touchdowns on four consecutive drives.

“I thought the guys that came in stepped in and did some really good things,” Harbaugh said. “Really, the chances we had to get off the field didn’t come from that position. We made some errors elsewhere.”

Et cetera – David Akers kicked field goals of 20 and 28 yards Sunday but missed from 39 yards, his fourth miss in as many games.

Harbaugh stated firmly that the 49ers have “got to see him make those plays.” But he said there are no plans to make a change at kicker.

“Not at this time,” Harbaugh said.

Akers is 25 of 35 on field-goal attempts this season, a 71.4 percent rate that ranks 31st in the NFL. Sunday’s was just the second miss for Akers this season in 20 attempts from 39 yards or fewer. From 40 yards and beyond, Akers is 7 of 15.

• Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who entered the NFL in the 2005 draft with the 49ers’ Alex Smith, weighed in Monday on Smith being benched despite a 70 percent completion rate and career-high 104.1 passer rating in nine games before suffering a concussion this season.

“He’s a great quarterback,” Rodgers told the NFL Network. ”He just needs to go somewhere he gets appreciated for the skills he has, and hopefully he gets a chance next year.”

Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant says he will play with a broken finger Sunday against Pittsburgh and there are signs that it might not be wishful thinking.

Bryant was listed as a limited participant in practice Thursday, an upgrade from a day earlier, when he sat out. Dallas coach Jason Garrett said he caught some passes in practice after saying before the workout he didn’t think Bryant would.

The third-year pro fractured his left index finger in last weekend’s 20-19 win at Cincinnati, but he caught a touchdown after getting injured. He will need surgery, but the question remains whether he can try to play through the injury and have surgery after the season.

It didn’t seem like much of a question in Bryant’s mind Thursday.

“Only thing y’all need to know is I’m playing,” he said while ducking in and out of the locker room without stopping for interviews.

Bryant was the last player on the field for the open portion of practice, and he was wearing a padded white glove that had the tip of the finger exposed. Several players said he looked good catching passes.

“There are different ways to catch a ball,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “He can probably tell you better than anybody just how to catch a football. I trust him. If he’s going to put himself in that position, I know he’s going to find a way to play at a certain level.”

Bryant wants to keep playing for two reasons: the Cowboys (7-6) still have a shot at the playoffs, and he’s in the best stretch of his career. The third-year pro has his first 1,000-yard season and has scored in a career-best five straight games.

Dallas has won four of five, and Bryant has 33 catches for 525 yards and seven TDs in that stretch.

“He certainly has a willingness to play,” Garrett said. “We’ve just got to see if he can function the way he needs to.”