MINNEAPOLIS -- This Sunday, Adrian Peterson will line up in the Minnesota Vikings' backfield for his 10th season opener at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Standing in the backfield with him will be Shaun Hill or Sam Bradford, the 12th starting quarterback the Vikings have used during Peterson's career in Minnesota.

If Barry Sanders -- an Oklahoma State product and Detroit Lions Hall of Famer -- was one of Peterson's childhood heroes, there's an element of Sanders' Big 12-to-NFC North path that Peterson doesn't want to emulate. Some in Peterson's camp have long viewed Sanders, who walked away at age 30 with four rushing titles and one career playoff win, as a cautionary tale. And if Peterson were to repeat last season, leading the league in rushing again before the Vikings bowed out in the first round of the playoffs, he'd have the same number of rushing crowns and the same playoff record (1-5) as Sanders.

Adrian Peterson said he's confident that the Vikings' offense will be balanced despite having either newcomer Sam Bradford or career backup Shaun Hill as the team's starting quarterback. Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The Vikings' checkered history with quarterbacks, and the fact that Peterson's one playoff win came with Brett Favre, made it all the more striking this summer when the running back said he believed Teddy Bridgewater was the passer who could take the Vikings to the Super Bowl. "When I look in his eyes, I see greatness," Peterson said.

This Sunday, though, Bridgewater will be recovering from knee surgery, and Peterson will take the field with another new quarterback. If there's a time for the 31-year-old running back to lament another round of uncertainty, now is not it.

"Unfortunately, it's a different type of situation that [Teddy] got hurt," Peterson said. "But that doesn't change what you bring to the game and what you do as an individual player and how you contribute to the offense."

For his part, the running back said he hasn't given up on the idea that the Vikings will have a balanced offense. But he's ready to carry the load if he's asked to do it.

"To be honest with you, I always look at it as, I carry my load," Peterson said after the Vikings' final preseason game last Thursday. "Shaun will do a great job for us, and I have confidence in him and what he is able to do in the passing game. I feel like we will have a balanced offense."

While it's probably overly simplistic to assume the Vikings will cope with their quarterback uncertainty just by feeding Peterson the ball, there's little doubt his presence is a calming factor for the team's two quarterbacks as the Vikings try to figure out which one of them will replace Bridgewater this week.

"It’s nice knowing that we’ve got the best running back in the game and one of the best defenses in the league," Bradford said. "We’re probably not going to have to go out there and throw it 60-plus times a game and put up a lot of points. But you still have to come in and you still have to put in the time to learn the new offense. I want to be efficient as I possibly can when I step on the field."

Whether Bradford or Hill is on the field this Sunday, Peterson begins his 10th season as a focal point of the Vikings' offense, ready to do his part for a team he's consistently said is capable of winning a championship. The goal, Peterson said, has not changed.

"We have an opportunity," he said. "It is very unfortunate to have the [Bridgewater] injury happen. It takes a team to win a championship, so we are still chasing the same thing."