EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — As the Adrian Peterson saga continued to sort itself out with the league on Monday, the Vikings were preparing as if they won’t have their former league MVP running back for Sunday’s rematch with the Green Bay Packers at TCF Bank Stadium.

With the Packers sporting a 7-3 record that includes a 42-14 rout of the Vikings six weeks ago, Sunday could be yet another painful reminder of just how far the Vikings trail the rest of the NFC North without Peterson, the foundation upon which the current roster was constructed.

Sunday’s 21-13 loss to a Bears team that had bottomed out as the first team in 91 years to give up at least 50 points in back-to-back games was a deflating setback that dropped the Vikings to 4-6 overall and 0-3 in the NFC North. Tampa Bay, which is 0-4 in the NFC South, is the only other NFC team that hasn’t beaten a team in its division.

The Vikings weren’t even competitive in losses to the Packers and Lions (17-3). Against the Bears, they showed a similar lack of power and offensive toughness that wouldn’t be a problem if they had Peterson.

Peterson, meanwhile, remained on the commissioner’s exempt list more than a week after pleading no contest to a reduced misdemeanor charge of injury to a child stemming from his decision to whip his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch. Peterson and the NFL Players Association filed a grievance, protesting the league’s decision not to remove Peterson from the exempt list immediately after he resolved the felony charge of child abuse by pleading no contest to the misdemeanor.

The Vikings were expecting the league to rule as early as Monday on Peterson’s grievance and announce whether it has decided to suspend Peterson. Peterson would then have the right to appeal, which would make it unclear as to whether the appeal could be heard in time for Peterson to suit up and play on Sunday.

Stuck in the middle is a Vikings team that wants Peterson back for obvious on-field reasons, but is naturally gun-shy because of the backlash from the public, the media and its own sponsors when it tried to let him play in Week 2. That decision backfired and left them and the league no choice but to reverse course two days later and dump Peterson on the special exempt list.

Meanwhile, the Vikings got another reminder of where the true state of their running game is when their leading rusher on Sunday was backup safety and special teamer Andrew Sendejo, who ran 48 yards with the team’s first fake punt in 10 years.

Throw out that run and the Vikings had 48 yards on 15 carries. Toss out a 23-yard run by Jerick McKinnon on the first possession and the other 14 carries by the offense generated 25 yards.

The low point came when free safety Harrison Smith returned an interception 52 yards to the Bears’ 27-yard line. The Vikings could only move the ball seven yards before missing a 38-yard field goal at a critical point in the game.

“I think the team was ready to play,” coach Mike Zimmer said. “We started out fast; we wanted to start out fast. We got up 10-0 and we didn’t finish as good as we needed to.

“I don’t think we ran the ball well enough. They were running some zone-blitzes to stop the running game some. The one long run that Jerick (McKinnon) had was a zone blitz that we blocked very well and then a couple others we missed a block here or there.”

Somewhere in Houston, Peterson probably was watching and cringing at the lack of power and ability to finish.

NOTES, QUOTES

–Any fan of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series probably knows Mike Zimmer tends to use some salty language. He’s normally pretty good at avoiding that from the podium as a head coach. Well, he was, until the subject of Soldier Field’s malfunctioning game clocks came up after Sunday’s 21-13 loss.

Zimmer dropped an expletive and later apologized. But he made it clear he wasn’t happy with not having a game clock for the coaches and his quarterback to refer to during portions of the game. There were several problems that started in the second quarter and continued through the rest of the game. The clocks weren’t in sync at times and didn’t work at all and were shut off entirely at different times, including late in the fourth quarter with the Vikings driving and down by one possession.

“One clock was wrong,” Zimmer said. “The two in the end zones were wrong all day. The one across on the 50-yard line was accurate, so we had to go from that one back to the other one. And then they shut that one off for a while, then they put it back on for a while, then they put the ones in the end zones on for a while. It was musical clocks.”

–The Vikings haven’t won at Soldier Field since 2007, Adrian Peterson’s rookie year. That day seven years ago, Peterson ran for 224 yards. Sunday, with Peterson’s playing status still up in the air as he remained on the commissioner’s exempt list, the Vikings lost another game at Soldier Field.

They’re running game wasn’t much to speak of. And the leading rusher actually was a little-used backup safety who plays special teams. Andrew Sendejo had one carry for 48 yards on a perfectly timed and executed fake punt that set up the Vikings’ first touchdown and a 10-0 first-quarter lead.

And you can excuse the Bears for being caught off-guard. The Vikings hadn’t tried a fake punt since Dec. 5, 2004, against the Bears. The only player still on the team from that day is long-snapper Cullen Loeffler, who was a rookie that year.

Sendejo was asked when was the last time he carried the ball. He looked fast and sturdy until he stumbled and fell in traffic at the Bears’ 7-yard line.

“Probably middle school,” he said. “We were district champ in middle school. I was the starting running back.”

REPORT CARD VS. BEARS

–PASSING OFFENSE: D — Teddy Bridgewater completed only 18 of 28 passes for 158 yards and was intercepted in the end zone late in the fourth quarter with the Vikings down by one score. His protection wasn’t the best, although the Bears had only two sacks, including one in which Jared Allen raced past embattled left tackle Matt Kalil. The receivers also were invisible except for Charles Johnson, who is considered their No. 5 receiver, although that could start to change soon. Johnson caught six of the seven balls thrown to him for 87 yards. Greg Jennings, who had one catch for four yards, was invisible, as was Cordarrelle Patterson, who caught two balls in the fourth quarter.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: D — Throw out backup safety Andrew Sendejo’s team-high 48 yards on the team’s first fake punt in 10 years and the rushing offense had 48 yards on 15 carries. Jerick McKinnon had only eight carries for 38 yards. The Vikings converted only 2 of 11 third downs and lost the time of possession battle, 38:38 to 21:22. A big reason was no running game.

–PASS DEFENSE: D — The Bears used giant receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery to pick unmercifully on 5-foot, 10-inch No. 3 corner Josh Robinson. Robinson was in decent position for most of the game, but man coverage assignments put him in some unwinnable situations. He gave up touchdowns of 27 yards to Jeffery and 44 and 4 yards to Marshall. He also gave up a 34-yarder to the Vikings’ 8-yard line to Jeffery. Cutler did throw the two picks, including one that was Xavier Rhodes’ first career interception. However, the Bears also converted 10 of 17 third downs mostly because Jay Cutler kept throwing over the top of Robinson.

–RUSH DEFENSE: C — It wasn’t horrendous, but it certainly played a role in the Bears being able to throw the ball and hold the Vikings’ top-ranked pass rush to no sacks. Matt Forte was steady as usual with 117 yards on 26 carries (4.5).

–SPECIAL TEAMS: B — We can’t give them the top grade here because punter Jeff Locke was his usual inconsistent self and normally reliable Blair Walsh missed a 38-yard field goal wide right in the second half. But Walsh also hit a 50-yarder to put the Vikings up 3-0. And the first-quarter fake punt was timed and executed perfectly. The Vikings hadn’t run a fake punt in 10 years, going back to a Bears game in 2004. Facing a three-and-out in the first quarter, the Vikings had long snapper Cullen Loeffler snap the ball to upback Adam Thielen, who turned and handed off to wingback Andrew Sendejo, who went 48 yards on an end around to his left. He stumbled at the Chicago 7, but the Vikings scored a touchdown on the next play.

–COACHING: D — Coach Mike Zimmer is one of the brightest defensive minds in the game, which makes it all the more puzzling as to why he left his third cornerback, 5-foot, 10-inch Josh Robinson, in man coverage when he was getting repeatedly beaten mainly because the receivers he was covering towered over him. The Bears had struggled with zone coverages earlier this season, but the Vikings stayed with a game plan that included a lot of man. Offensively, the Vikings were flat and just didn’t do much of anything as they spent less than 22 minutes on the field. The fake punt on special teams, however, was a coaching highlight that can’t be overlooked based on the timing and execution.