About this time last week, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made his annual offseason proclamation about the [surprising thing] he will do [at surprising age]. It's a May tradition like no other.

This year's bold claim involved Peterson breaking the historical mold of old running backs struggling after the age of 30 and vowing he'll become even better as he ages

Peterson also mentioned the Vikings would stun the world in 2016 and have a good chance to "win everything."

"We are going to have a good chance to win it this year -- win everything," Peterson said. "Sit back and watch. Sit back and watch. You can be like, 'I thought you guys were at least a couple of years away.' Nope. You sit back and watch, this year."

That's a Super Bowl guarantee without actually being a guarantee and it warrants a follow up. Fortunately, Peterson was willing to expound on the topic.

The running back told Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio -- in rather lengthy fashion -- he sees a lot of ways the Vikings organization has put themselves in good position to succeed over the long haul.

Peterson initially cited the job GM Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer have done building the roster, "core system" and the "guys in the right place."

Peterson also digs the "young group" of players on the roster, a quality mix of veterans and youth "that can really play some good ball" -- especially on the defensive side of the ball. AP is spot on calling the Vikes defense a young, dangerous unit that will be talented again in 2016.

It's the offense that's got to improve. And Peterson knows it.

"Offensively just going off of what we were able to accomplish this year and we really weren't the type of offense that we wanted to be," Peterson said. "But you look at that and we were right there in the mix of really going on to play Arizona and end up in the NFC Championship game with what we had offensively."

Of course, AP might not be calling himself out here. He did lead the league in rushing yards (1,485) while averaging 4.5 yards per carry.

The passing game was the primary problem. Teddy Bridgewater didn't take the leap everyone expected and there weren't any real weapons in the passing game outside of rookie Stephon Diggs. Minnesota finished 16th in points per game (22.8) and 29th in yards per game (291.2).

The Vikings added Alex Boone and Andre Smith to the offensive line in free agency and picked up Laquon Treadwell in the first round of the draft. The Vikings won 11 games last year and are right there in terms of contenders for the NFC North along with the Packers, especially if Peterson can meet his own expectations.